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Beginnings 

of 

Faith and Science 



By 



E. M. Wood, D. D., LL. D, 



• ••••• » • 



• * * » » 



Published by the 

JOSEPH HORNER BOOK COMPANY, LTD. 

524 Penn Avenue, Pittsburg, Pa. 



-$k& 



VlJlT 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

JAN 23 1904 

Copyright Entry 
;laSS a XXc. No, 



' COPY B 



Copyright, November, 1903 

by 

Ezra Morgan Wood 

Pittsburg, Pa. 



Printed by 
Pittsburgh Printing Company 



OTHER WORKS BY THE AUTHOR 



Bishops and Legislation. 

Schools for Spirits. 

How the Bible Was Made. 

Methodism, and the Centennial of 
American Independence. 

Associate Editor of Cyclopedia of 
Methodism. 

A Splendid Wreck and other Poems. 

Christian Science, not a Christian 
Church. 

Mormonism: Should it be Protected? 



On sale by 

Joseph Horner Book Company, Limited 

524 Penn Ave., Pittsburg, Pa. 



INTRODUCTION 



/|j%NE of the most pleasant reminiscences of my life is 
Xfjs that wherever I have lived and labored I have had 
the confidence and good will of the young people of the 
church and community. And this has not come to me 
as a precious heritage by reason of making too great con- 
cessions, but by taking a deep interest in their future. 
Six years of my public life have been ardently devoted to 
collegiate work, and I have had before me hundreds of 
young men and women, and I have looked into their 
bright faces with the profoundest hopes for their future. 
And this interest in them does not lessen with the length- 
ening years. And knowing that there are thousands of 
them full of native ability and ambition who can never 
spend time in college halls, and yet by making diligent 
use of the helps prepared for their hands may rise to fair 
prominence and great usefulness. 

It is mainly these students, in and out of school, I have 
had specially in mind while preparing these pages. Their 
student life should begin by securing at least a few grains 
of truth from him who is the Radium Light of the world. 
All moral and scientific torches should come to this light 
for illumination. I regard any person's life as dangerous- 
ly problematical who will purposely leave out of his life 
plan a sincere acceptance of Jesus Christ as his moral 
teacher and Saviour. 



In this work you will observe that I have placed first 
the intellectual and literary substratum of Christianity 
not ignoring, however, for a moment its pure spiritual 
nature, which throbs in every fibre of its intellectual warp. 
Then it may be seen that basic Christianity like natural 
science is founded upon facts, and if these facts do not 
overlay each other they are at least in closest juxtaposi- 
tion. And thus Christianity and science are like an organ 
with a double bank of keys, and he is the most skillful 
player and brings out the sweetest music who manipu- 
lates both banks at his pleasure. A scientific Christian 
are terms which blend as readily as the colors white and 
cream, or green and blue. 

I desire the reader to keep in mind that the following 
pages are intended to be beginnings. They are not the 
goal of Christian and intellectual manhood, but trust that 
they may have an impulsive power which may tend to 
carry you forward to that happy condition called the per- 
fect man in Christ Jesus. 

The; Author 



CONTENTS 



Chapter I. — The Intellectual Plateau of Christianity. 
Chapter IL— What About the Old Testament? 
Chapter III. — What About the New Testament? 
Chapter IV. — Cosmogony, Science and Revelation. 
/ ( Chapter V. — Astrology and Astronomy. 
Chapter VI. — Geology and Earth Building. 
Chapter VII. — Biology and Evolution. 
Chapter VIII. — Psychology or the Soul's Powers. 
Chapter IX. — Ethics or Moral Philosophy. 
Chapter X. — Social Science or Political Economy. 
Chapter XI. — Art and Music. 
Chapter XII. — Church Music and Music Power. 
Chapter XIII. — Musical Composition, Instruments and Composers. 
Chapter XIV. — Teachers and Teaching. 

Chapter XV. — The New Education. 
Chapter XVI. — Mastering Circumstances. 



CHAPTER I 



THE INTELLECTUAL PLATEAU OF 
CHRISTIANITY 

The spiritual nature of Christianity has been specially 
emphasized ever since the time of the Protestant Refor- 
mation. That at times too great stress has been laid 
upon its spiritual nature is as true as that at times too 
much stress has been placed upon its ceremonial and in- 
tellectual nature, and the evils resulting from each will 
perhaps about balance each other. It is important to re- 
member that the spiritual and the formal are the natural 
opposites, but properly considered the spiritual and the 
intellectual are never antagonists. 

The intellectual character of the Founder of Christi- 
anity has never received due consideration. Writers and 
speakers seem to hesitate to present this feature of his 
life lest they in some measure appear to detract from his 
divine nature and mission, but his divinity will never suf- 
fer from a proper presentation of his humanity. It is 
a kind of an Americanism to speak with considerable 
pride of the humble origin of some of our great men, and 
in this respect we often under value early personal biog- 
raphy and strain the facts and influences of individual 
history. As instances it is not certain that General Grant 
ever tanned a piece of leather, or that Abraham Lincoln 
ever split rails, and if they did so we speak of these things 
to humble their boyhood that we may exalt their man- 
hood. And we confess that we do not see either the wis- 
dom or righteousness of such a course. And very much 
so^ has it been concerning Christ. Persons speak with 
evident pleasure of him as "the carpenter's son," as 



working with his father at the bench, until he was thirty 
years of age, and thus unwittingly, it may be, they join 
hands with the Pharisees who said this to cast oppro- 
brium upon him. And yet we do not know certainly that 
he ever shoved a plane, or worked a saw, or drove a nail. 
We must not forget that Christ was of the priestly order 
and he must, therefore, fit himself for that office. You 
will remember that after having entered upon his public 
life-work his opponents were surprised at his intelligence, 
and asked, " Whence hath this man this wisdom"? or as 
another writer records it, "Whence hath this man letters, 
not having learned?" Although they did not know his 
history fully, yet Christ from a child "advanced in wis- 
dom and stature," so that when only twelve years of age, 
when in the temple at Jerusalem, the great teachers there 
were "amazed at his understanding and his answers." It 
would at least be interesting to know at what exact point 
in his young life the thought first came to him as to what 
was his special mission in the world. So early at least 
as at twelve years of age he had this clear conception and 
he was surprised that his parents had not yet realized it 
when with a concealed reproof for their ignorance he 
said, "Wist ye not that I must be in my Father's house"? 
or "in the things of my Father?" Undoubtedly Christ 
had to study and learn, as any other boy has to do that 
he might become intelligent. Many things came to him, 
no doubt, by virtue of his divinity, and also as direct rev- 
elations from the Father, but his accurate knowledge of 
the Jewish scriptures as shown especially in controversy 
with the theological teachers of his day ; his correct 
knowledge of nature as shown in his parables ; his un- 
erring information in history and biography had to be 
obtained, no doubt, in the ordinary way. It is not known 
that there were any schools of any kind at this time in 
Nazareth where his parents resided, and it seems rea- 
sonable to suppose that soon after his twelfth year he 
returned to Jerusalem and entered upon his studies and 
perhaps he and Paul may. have been school-mates at the 
feet of Gamaliel. That his presence there seems to have 
awakened no public attention need not surprise us. His 
presentation in the temple when a child was a very quiet 

10 



affair, and no one of the great men there seems to have 
recognized the child-king, but that clear-eyed and pro- 
phetically inspired frail old man, Simeon. And as we have 
noted when he was twelve years old no one in the tem- 
ple seems to have suspected that he was the youthful 
Christ, and yet they were amazed at his knowledge. Then 
on the supposition that he spent the most of eighteen 
years in the schools at Jerusalem in careful and thorough 
and intelligent preparation for his great life-work, let us 
not be surprised that his student life there was not made 
famous, for the time had not yet come for his open mani- 
festation as the Messiah. That glorious commencement 
day, so to speak, came to him when John on the terraced 
banks of the Jordan said to the people of Jerusalem and 
of Judea and the whole world, "Behold the Lamb of 
God." 

When all the prophets before him were careful to leave 
records of their teachings and work it seems at first a 
little strange that Christ never wrote anything, except 
once, and that in the transient sands of the earth. It 
surely cannot be charged to his inability to do so, but it 
may be accounted for on the grounds of intense devo- 
tion to teaching and wonder-working and that whatever 
was necessary for the instruction and guidance of his 
followers in the future would be carefully preserved by 
those apostles and disciples who stood nearest to him 
and who heard his words and saw his works for about 
three years. And this implied expectancy was most provi- 
dentially fulfilled in the writings of the evangelists and 
the apostles. But as it has been respecting Christ, so 
has it been respecting these disciples, that many writers 
and speakers have joined in the calumny of the Pharisees 
that these were "ignorant and unlearned men" ; that they 
were poor, "unlettered fishermen." And how often have 
they been selected as good illustrations of that ill-used 
expression that God has chosen the weak things of this 
world to confound the things that are mighty. This is 
another effort to exalt grace by depressing human ability, 
shamefully forgetting that they are both the gifts of God. 
But a careful study of these men and their writings will 

11 



bring a clear refutation of this bold reflection upon the 
intelligence of these wise and good men. 

It is an important inquiry as to why so few of the 
apostles and disciples left any writings so far as known, 
and the answer to this inquiry is so full and reasonable 
that there is no good reason to question their intel- 
lectual ability. Matthew's gospel was published in 
Palestine and at such an early date, perhaps within five 
years after the Ascension of Christ, and some good writ- 
ers place it earlier, and it was so full and satisfactory as 
to seem to need no supplementary and corroborative rec- 
ords. The other gospels were not written until some 
years afterwards. The most of the apostles when they 
were scattered abroad because of the persecution went 
either east or south, and those regions have never been 
famous for ancient manuscripts or writings. And while 
the monolithic records of Assyria and Egypt are mostly 
of a civil, political or military character, yet we have a lin- 
gering hope that some day the industrious spade of the 
archaeologist will turn up a slab, and the inquiring key of 
the diligent explorer will unlock some musty Oriental 
convent, and we will have some records of the labors of 
those confessedly intelligent apostles, Thomas and Bar- 
tholomew. 

The Greeks and Romans never, to any considerable ex- 
tent, made monumental records, but they preserved and 
diffused their language and literature by writings, and 
thus the apostles who remained and labored within the 
western bounds of the Roman empire have left us faithful 
records of their faithful labors. 

And besides the confirmation of tradition, a careful 
study of Matthew's gospel proves the statement by Euse- 
bius true, that the author was "a man of the widest gen- 
eral information, and well acquainted with the Scrip- 
tures,''' John Mark, the evangelist, who was for some time 
the traveling companion and assistant of Paul, and then 
of Peter, it might be inferred from these facts was a man 
of considerable intellectual attainments, as both of Paul's 
other and later companions, namely, Barnabas and Luke, 
were men of scholarly ability, as their writings abund- 
antly prove. It must be admitted, however, that Mark's 

12 



gospel, while valuable for its details, yet it shows less of 
scholarship than any one of the gospels. Luke, in his 
gospel and in the Acts of the Apostles shows remarkable 
intellectual ability, and in the history of the Apostles he 
displays a vast amount of general information, histori- 
cal, biographical, geographical and political, in any de- 
partment of which he never makes a serious blunder. 
And as to John and his writings, there is no need for us 
to pause, for he was the Plato of Gospel philosophy; he 
was the Locke of evangelical metaphysics ; he was the 
Baxter of all the saints rest, the profound lecturer in the 
school of Christ, and at the same time, a humble teacher 
in the kindergarten of the Master. Neither is it neces- 
sary for us to pause long to consider Paul and his writ- 
ings, as it is conceded by friends and foes that he was a 
man whose intelligence was* of a high order. He was edu- 
cated at Tarsus and at Jerusalem, centers of learning. He 
was a prolific and yet concise writer. He wrote fourteen 
books of the twenty-seven of the New Testament and 
how much unpublished writings he left will probably 
never be known. And for those times he was a much 
traveled man and became well and for the most part fav- 
orably known in nearly all the intellectual centers in west- 
ern Asia and southern Europe. And in one particular, 
especially, how different his letters from those of mod- 
ern travelers over the same routes. He never speaks of 
"the blue Mediterranean/' of "the Attic skies" or of "the 
Athenian splendors," or of "the grand out-look from the 
Acropolis," or of "the Coliseum, and Rome with her 
seven hills," of "the Forum from whose platform sounded 
the eloquence of Cato, Cataline and Cicero." But let 
no one think for a moment that these omissions indicate 
a deficiency in intelligence or observation or a lack of ap- 
preciation of all such subjects. His silence is rather proof 
that they were common to his mind. The boy with a 
few pennies will often show them, but the man with mil- 
lions will seldom speak of his millions. Paul had been as- 
sociated with great men all his life long. He met them 
in the schools of Tarsus and at Jerusalem. He knew the 
Herods, Felix and Festus, and the Roman officers, mili- 
tary and civil, who were his friends, except Nero and had 

13 



he not made the apparent mistake of appealing to Cae- 
sar, he possibly might have lived several years longer, 
but then we would not have had possibly his preaching 
in Rome, his letters from Rome and crowning it all, his 
triumphant martyr death in Rome. 

Now let us think of his ten letters out of his fourteen, 
written in Rome and sent out from Rome ; Rome the 
center and source of the Latin language and literature, 
although at this time largely Greek ; Rome, the center 
and source of civil law and jurisprudence ; Rome, then the 
mistress of the peopled world. And think again that nine 
of the books of the New Testament were sent out from 
that cultivated Grecian city, Ephesus, and four from that 
great commercial city, Corinth, and two from Jerusalem, 
the then religious capitol of the world, and one from 
Babylon, the source of Astronomy. Now, draw a line 
from Rome eastward, and around far off Babylon and 
around Jerusalem in the south, and around Ephesus and 
Corinth in the north, and then on and around Rome, and 
with one exception, you have included in this circumfer- 
ence all the great intellectual centers of that age and here- 
in is the high intellectual plateau upon which Christianity 
was planted and propagated. The one exception is the 
city of Alexandria, but of right this city should be in- 
cluded in the area, for it furnished the text-book for the 
Saviour and the Apostles and Evangelists, the Greek 
translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint which 
incorporated with the New Testament was the Bible of 
the Christian church for about six hundred years. And 
you will call to mind the fact that the four oldest Greek 
Bibles now in existence upon which critics chiefly rely 
for the original text of the New Testament were first 
transcribed in Alexandria. You will also recall that 
other significant historical fact that by an order from 
Constantinople, Eusebius had fifty-two copies of this Greek 
Bible made and which were distributed throughout the 
Oriental Christian Church. And while this city for some 
reason now unknown did not share in the labors of Christ 
or the Apostles yet Alexandria and Rome and Ephesus and 
Jerusalem were the great publishing centers of the first 
literature of Christianity. And out of the great school 

14 



of Alexandria came a trio of great men who more than 
any others were the wise master builders of that great 
creed of which the Nicene and all others since have been 
but modifications, the Athanasian creed, and that trio is 
Clement and Origen, Biblical expositors, and Athanasius 
the brilliant orator and logical debater. But you must 
not think of this as simply a theological school. In 
founding it Alexander spared neither men, nor time, nor 
money to make a school that should surpass anything 
Greece or any country had ever possessed. Its manu- 
script library contained 700,000 volumes. It was built on 
the comprehensive principle of an eclecticism, to select 
the best from all the known schools. Its catalogue and 
curriculum, therefore, was most extensive, embracing 
language and literature, poetry and philosophy, the nat- 
ural sciences and theology. I am well aware that meas- 
ured by a modern standard that school and all of its pro- 
fessors and pupils would be marked low in grade, but 
measured by any standard of those times, and this is the 
fair measurement, the school, the professors and pupils 
and library will easily take the highest rank. This, then, 
is our conclusion on this point that the propagators and 
defenders of the early Christian faith were men of broad 
and profound culture. I shall not, therefore, pause to 
speak of the other Greek or Latin Fathers as they are 
called, nor shall I spend much more time than to simply 
mention such names in Latin Christianity as Tertullian, 
Cyprian, Lactantius, Hilary, Ambrose, Augustine and 
Jerome. You will observe that I am not now set for the 
defense of their theological views, nor so much for their 
theological ability or ecclesiasticism as for their intellec- 
tual power. Allow me to mention Lactantius, whom Jer- 
ome calls the most learned man of his time, and who 
because of his rhetoric and philosophy has often been 
named a pupil of Cicero and Senaca ; and also Ambrose, 
who was a judge, a statesman, poet and a bishop ; Jero- 
me, who was well trained in Greek, Latin, rhetoric and 
philosophy. And with one step coming down to modern 
times, no one who is himself intelligent will question the 
intelligent character of Luther and Melanchthon, of John 
Calvin and John Knox, of John and Charles Wesley. 

15 



What, then, is the significance of this brief summary? It 
is this, that the great and efficient propagators and de- 
fenders of Christianity from Christ, its founder, to our 
day have been men of great intellectual power. I do not 
intend to intimate that even ignorant men have not done 
much good, but that good may be lasting there have 
been always intelligent forces directing all their work. 
At times many of the people who form the under work- 
ing forces of Christianity have not been intelligent, but 
in all the aggressive movements of the church for the 
conquest of the strong-holds of the enemy there have 
been many wise commanders who, like that great Com- 
modore Dewey, who has justly earned his own immortal 
fame, tersely said, "Keep cool and obey orders." Neither 
do I wish to seem to minimize what is commonly called 
spiritual force, that occult power in Christianity. But as 
it requires intellectual power to find and utilize that oc- 
cult electrical power, so it requires intelligence to prop- 
erly interpret and apply occult spiritual forces. Modern 
evangelism proceeds too much upon the tactics of play- 
ing upon the forts of the enemy with only one battery, 
but I contend for a double battery of spiritual and intel- 
lectual power. 

My young friends when you are asked to follow Christ 
you are not, therefore, asked to follow a blind or ignor- 
ant leadership. You are not asked to follow even an un- 
reasonable spirituality, nor to accept a foggy mysticism, 
such as Buddhism or Theosophy, or kindred theories 
which have no foundation in Christianity. Follow not 
such will o' the wisps over their shaky quagmire under 
the delusion that you are being led by the true light. 
Christ is the only true light that lighteth every man that 
cometh into the world. Hold up your torch and get your 
light from Christ, the light of the world. There is the 
light of genius, the light of invention, the light of knowl- 
edge, but the most powerful scientific light now discov- 
ered are the X rays or radium light. And have you ob- 
served that the first are rays of light from a cross? And 
so the most powerful rays of spiritual light come from the 
cross of Christ. But some men say, I see by my own 
eyes. No, you see by the light of the sun. The Bible 

16 



is the fluorscope without which you cannot see the light 
of Christ. This very beautiful light here is but stored 
up sunshine which some man has imprisoned and it 
shines forth for our advantage. And whatever be your 
acquirements of knowledge you see by Christ's sunshine. 
How much have men seen in the midnight of Paganism 
as compared with what they have seen in the noontide 
of Christianity? Christ is no longer bending low on sup- 
pliant knee, asking for sympathy and patronage, he has 
already come to his coronation before the nations of the 
world, and so let us come and mingle our voices with the 
shout of the multitudes and crown him Lord of all. 



$> 



17 



CHAPTER II. 



WHAT ABOUT THE OLD TESTAMENT? 

The Bible is the most remarkable volume that has ever 
been published, since it records the most wonderful 
events which have ever transpired in the world's history, 
and covering an historical area of 4,100 years. These 
events are recorded in 66 books of which the volume is 
composed, and were written by 38 different authors or 
editors, ranging in time from Job, 1521 B. C, to the Rev- 
elation of St. John, A. D. 96, during a lapse of more 
than 1,600 years. And I do not pause here to furnish 
even small extracts of the inspiring poetry or the bril- 
liant prose which has been written from time to time con- 
cerning this volume. (Refer to How the Bible was Made.) 

My main purpose is to answer some questions which 
have often come to me, and no doubt to you as well, and 
mostly from young people concerning this wonderful vol- 
ume. 

1. What was the nature of the impulse that moved 
these different writers? 2. Was this impulse the same in 
nature and extent with all these 38 different writers, 
scattered along at intervals during the 1,600 years? 
3. How did these books get into this one volume? 4. On 
what principles were these books accepted, and all other 
writings of that period excluded? 5. What is the basis 
of the authority, and the extent of the control of this 
volume in the affairs of human society? 6. Is the vol- 
ume complete, or may other books, perhaps of equal au- 
thority be yet added to the volume, or is this a final rev- 
elation? If so, why? 

19 



As you will see, these questions are fundamental and 
cover a very wide range of thought and investigation, 
and I feel quite sure that I have neither time nor ability 
to exhaust either one of them in the space allotted to me. 
But something may be done by collecting and reciting 
the main facts which, it is hoped, may be of interest and 
instruction to young and old. 

Did Moses write under the same or similar influence as 
Herodotus and Rollin, simply with a desire of making 
an accurate record of the facts and events of history, that 
they might be preserved? Did Job and David and Solo- 
mon write under the same or similar influence as Tenny- 
son and Longfellow, and Bryant, the poets of society, of 
man and of nature? But whether the historical or the 
poetical writers of the Bible be considered they believed 
themselves moved by some kind of impulse of a more or 
less intense spiritual nature. And, as it respects not 
only the liability to error but the possibility of error as 
well, did the writers of the books of the Bible, and they 
only, possess an absolute exemption from this liability 
and possibility? And as we know that personally they 
were all human and therefore inevitably erring beings, 
they could not possibly be exempt from error except pos- 
sibly when writing these records. Is there any proof 
that such is the case? And now we will be frank and 
confess that the proof here is not so abundant, clear, and 
direct, which seems to be necessary in sustaining such a 
high claim. If we were to assume that they wrote me- 
chanically, giving out, like a phonograph, what, and only 
what, the divine impulse had stamped on the mind, there 
could be no possible error as the divine cannot err. But 
it is now generally admitted by a large number of able 
writers that there was no such overmastering self-sub- 
duing impulse. The evident characteristic style of each 
writer more or less marked and prominent shows the 
presence and self-active influence of the human mind 
along with the divine impulse. And now I may possibly 
shock your faith by saying that there is not a letter, or a 
word, or a phrase, or a sentence, or a paragraph, or a 
book in this whole volume that is literally divinely inspir- 
ed ! If the original copies of the Hebrew in which the Old 

20 



Testament was written, and the Greek, in which the New 
Testament was written, were now in our possession, 
which they are not, but have long since perished, we 
might modify somewhat the above statement. But in- 
spiration is not something that can be run through a 
printing press, and fastened onto or into the printed 
page, much like the electric current can pass through a 
motor from the dynamo. And no inspiration can be 
taken off of the electroplates by which the Bible is print- 
ed. In what way, then, does that original impulse sur- 
vive and affect our present Bible, or in what sense or 
senses may our English Bible, for instance, be said to 
be inspired? In these, in the ideas, in the thoughts, in 
the themes, in all of which it, as a whole, far transcends 
any volume ever written by man. This, then, we believe, 
is the sense, the true sense, and the only sense in which 
the Bible is now an inspired volume. 

It may be said that such a position tends to weaken 
our reverence for the Bible, and lowers its moral force 
among men. If so, then this is perhaps unavoidable, 
as artist proofs of paintings pr etchings are always more 
highly valued than mere copies. But with a mind clear 
and discriminating in its mode of thought, and free from 
superstitious reverence, such a position as we have taken 
will not diminish a just estimation of the Bible as the 
word of God. And we do not see that it is necessary to 
maintain that all of those 38 writers were moved by an 
equal measure of the divine impulse, but that they were 
divinely directed and divinely guided in their writing, 
must be constantly affirmed. That the editor of the book 
of Chronicles, for instance, was in measure, as fully in- 
spired as Isaiah, is about the same as to maintain that 
the editor of the United States census is as much in- 
spired as Longfellow, the one being largely a mere copy- 
ist, but the other reveals the inner and original impres- 
sions made upon his own soul. 

The early Jewish writers divided the Old Testament 
into three divisions, which they named: the Law, the 
Prophets and the Sacred writings. It will be seen that 
these divisions are not very precise, as for instance, they 
are all sacred writings. These divisions, however, are 

21 



recognized in the same way in the New Testament. The 
Law included not simply the ten commandments by way 
of pre-eminence, which, however, no doubt, gave name 
to all the five books of Moses, now called the Pentateuch. 

The Prophets embraced the following books : Joshua, 
Judges, 1st and 2nd Samuel, ist and 2nd Kings, Isaiah, 
Jeremiah, and the 12 minor prophets. 

The Sacred Writings include the Psalms, Proverbs, 
Job, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Canticles, Ruth, 
Nehemiah, ist and 2nd Chronicles, and Ecclesiastes. 
And it is worthy of at least a passing notice that Josephus 
speaks of only 22 books as acknowledged by the Jews as 
divine, but that is accounted for by remembering that 
some of the books as we now have separate, were at- 
tached to other books ; as Lamentations was attached to 
Jeremiah, the mass of writings, however, was the same as 
we possess now. 

But we regard it as a very important question as to 
how, and by what authority, these books were collected 
together and pronounced to be of divine authority. And 
in the first place we must not forget that those early 
times were abundant in records and that this fact would, 
as it seems to us now, greatly complicate the proper se- 
lection of these books. 

The various slabs and monoliths which have been dis- 
covered in the East and doubtless many more will be 
found, show that almost every important event in those 
primitive times was made a matter of record. And how 
much the writers of the Old Testament depended upon or 
extracted from those records can never be fully known, 
for evidently, while they often say that many things which 
they do not record are found in those records, and in- 
deed mention those books by name in many instances, 
still we know there were many other records unnamed 
by them. Sixteen books are distinctly named, but now 
lost; and eighteen others were still extant when they 
wrote. 

Biblical critics have been very slow, and in some in- 
stances, wholly unwilling to admit that Moses especially 
derived anything from records in his day. I think the 
chief cause of the hesitancy to make such an admission 

22 



is occasioned by the extreme theory of inspiration which 
they hold. To admit that any extracts, verbal or sub- 
stantial, had been made by Moses and other authors of 
the Bible, they think is a dangerous admission, and would 
ultimately lead to a total surrender of the Bible as the 
word of God. By claiming too much, the friends of the 
Bible have often done it more harm than its avowed ene- 
mies. 

But it is now admitted, however, that there were rec- 
ords of some kind back of the Pentateuch, or co-existent 
with it, upon which Moses did somewhat depend, and 
from which he did make extracts ; but how literally or 
extensively he used them, possibly we may never know. 
And, moreover, that there are inaccuracies and confusions 
in his writings, is beyond intelligent dispute ; and whether 
these inaccuracies have been caused by errors in versions, 
or translations, or transcriptions, or whether they were 
made originally by the hand of Moses, or those upon 
whom he depended, cannot at this remote time ever be 
found out. But in making these admissions, we do not 
surrender the fortress, the divine origin and authority 
of the Pentateuch; we have only cut away the thick and 
modern undergrowth of extravagant and superstitious 
theories of inspiration and we are now therefore better 
able to see clearly the real, the rock foundation, of this 
part of the word of God. As a matter of fact not all 
that Moses professedly wrote was absolutely original 
with himself, as for example, he did not write his own 
obituary; that was added by another hand; but as God 
guided him through the wilderness, so he guided him in 
writing, and collecting and editing the five books com- 
monly ascribed to him. And all the inaccuracies found 
in the books are so comparatively small, that when con- 
sidered by the side of those stupendous truths which he 
records — they are like dwarfs standing at the feet of ma- 
jestic pyramids. 

And we should not forget that the Jews were punctili- 
ous to a fault in observing the smallest letter, especial- 
ly of the Torah, or the Law, the Pentateuch, hence it 
is hardly possible that any serious change could be made 
and they not detect it, for they had counted actually every 

23 



letter in the whole five books, in fact, of the entire Old 
Testament, 

And further there was no motive for them to change it 
themselves. And again the Samaritan Bible embraces 
the Pentateuch alone, and this gives great force to the 
Mosaic origin and divine authority for these books. And 
this fact does not cast any discredit on the remaining 
books of the Old Testament, when we remember that the 
Samaritans separated from the Jews proper after the re- 
turn from Babylonian captivity, and before the final col- 
lection of the sacred books in the time of Ezra. Hence, 
whether Moses actually wrote all that is in the Penta- 
teuch or not, that he was its author and editor is as clear- 
ly demonstrated as any other proposition refering to so 
remote a time. 

It does seem, however, truly strange that the very 
books of the Bible that have been, as we have seen, the 
most highly venerated alike by Jew and Samaritan, and 
have stood unchallenged for so many centuries should, 
in these latter days, be the most violently attacked by 
critics ; but perhaps they think that destroying this grand 
facade to the edifice of revealed truth, battering down this 
strong gateway to the shrine of the divine oracles, then 
the utter demolition of the whole structure would be easy. 

But whole armies of infidels and critics have come and 
viewed this facade and this gateway, and they have gone 
the way of all the earth, and still the foundations of divine 
truth stand secure. 

But it is not my purpose to discuss the personal au- 
thorship of each of the books of the Bible; and indeed, 
I do not attach as much importance to that subject as 
has been given to it in the past. It has its value, we ad- 
mit, but there are other matters of more importance in 
this discussion than this. And we therefore proceed to 
inquire how all the books in the Old Testament were col- 
lected together. It is admitted that this collection and 
arrangement of these writings, mostly in their proper 
order of time and events, was begun on the return of the 
Jews from the Babylonian captivity, during the days of 
Nehemiah, and under the sanction of Cyrus. The last 
book of the Old Testament, Malachi, was written about 

24 



397 B. C, and about this time Nehemiah organized the 
Great Synagogue, composed of the chief priests and em- 
inent scholars of that time, and of which, perhaps Ne- 
hemiah was the first president. Ezra was a member of 
this Great Synagogue, and he was selected to collect and 
arrange the sacred writings. 

This eminent body of 120 intelligent men had a number 
of meetings from the years 400 to 300 B. C, and they 
bound themselves by an oath to faithfully reconstruct the 
Jewish system in all of its essential features. One of the 
objects of this organization was to make copies of the 
only sacred books to be read among the Jews ; in a word, 
they were to fix what has been called the Jewish canon. 
That they were competent to do so, no one will question, 
and that they did so is generally conceded. That this 
was all done at one sitting, or during one year, is not 
probable, but their work must have been done during 
that period as the organization ended with Simon the 
Just, 300 B. C. 

Now, it should be remembered that this body of emin- 
ent men made a collection of the sacred books written, 
down to that time, but that they never by any decision 
left to us the fact that the canon was closed to the 
exclusion of any books which might yet be written by 
some competent authority. No such intimation even is 
on record. 

The Apocrypha 

This brings us to the consideration of the subject com- 
monly called the Apocrypha. Between the Old and New 
Testaments, in your old Bibles, you will find a number of 
books, some say 12, others 14, accordingly, as you sep- 
arate them from each other, called Apocrypha. As ap- 
plied to these books, the word is unfortunate, as it is 
synonomous to spurious or forgeries, while in fact, they 
are neither. The treatment that these books have re- 
ceived by both Jews and Christians has been various, and 
withal, very interesting. The time was when they were 
received by both Jews and Christians as Scriptures, and 
as is known, stood on an equal authority with all the Old 
Testament writings except the Pentateuch, which always 

25 



has had pre-eminence in the esteem of the Jews. After 
the predominance of the Greek language in all Western 
Asia and Eastern Europe, after the Conquest of Alexan- 
der the Great, about 344 B. C., the Hebrew language de- 
clined and ceased to be the language commonly spoken. 
Hence the translation of the Jewish Scriptures into the 
Greek became all-important. And we regard this as one 
of the most striking providential events in the history of 
the world. Since Asia, and Egypt, and Europe, indeed, 
we may say the whole world, had become Hellenized, to 
have the Scriptures then translated into the prevailing 
language of the world, that they might be widely diffused, 
as we now know they were, was a grand missionary en- 
terprise. 

Stripped of all fable, the main facts are as follows : 
1st — The Septuagint is a proper name, as there were about 
seventy Jews engaged upon the work. 2nd — They had a 
copy of the Jewish Scriptures before them from which 
they made the translation. 3rd — It was done by the di- 
rection of Ptolemy Philadelphus, an enlightened king of 
Egypt. 4th — That Alexandria, and not Athens, was at 
that time the intellectual metropolis of the Greek-speak- 
ing people. 5th — That the work was begun about 280 B. 
C. and was completed, if not in 72 days, as some accounts 
say, it was finished some generations before the coming 
of Christ. 6th — That this was the accepted Bible through- 
out the Roman empire for the space of about 300 years. 
7th — That it was the Bible from which the Savior and 
the Evangelists and Apostles quoted more than 350 times, 
besides many allusions, and of which they spoke in such 
profound veneration. 8th — That this version was held in 
high esteem by Jewish scholars in the Apostolic age. A 
contemporary of Josephus, Rabbi Symeon, is quoted in 
the Talmud as saying, "that it was lawful to write down 
the Sacred Scriptures and to read them in public only in 
1he Greek language, and not in foreign tongues/' Frankel, 
a modern Jewish scholar, who has devoted great atten- 
tion to the subject, declares that the Septuagint is ha- 
bitually referred to in the Talmud in terms of the highest 
respect. Dr. R. Smith says that "Early Rabbinnical tra- 
dition expressly recognizes the Greek version as legiti- 

26 



mate." 9th — All the Greek Fathers quoted from this ver- 
sion and held it in high regard, and Irenaeus says when 
the copy was first presented to King Ptolemy, "he per- 
ceived that it had been interpreted by the inspiration of 
God." It is known that St. Augustine placed it on a 
level with the Hebrew Scripture. He said "That although 
the words were not the same, yet the same meaning 
shone forth to those of sound understanding." (Old 
Testament Revision by Roberts, page 167.) 10th — That 
this version is still the Old Testament Scripture of all the 
Greek churches, and from it the Old or African Latin, 
the Egyptian, the Ethiopic, the Armenian, the Gothic, 
the Slavonic, and some of the Syriac versions were made, 
nth — The four great early Bibles of the Christian era, 
Aleph B. A. and C., contain the Septuagint more or less 
perfect, and they are now relied upon as the best au- 
thority in the revision of the Greek Testament. 12th — No 
one of these early Greek Bibles was known by the trans- 
lators of King James' Bible in 161 1. They had only one 
uncial MS. D., and this is now believed by critics to be 
more imperfect than the others referred to, and it did not 
contain the Septuagint. But King James' translators did- 
translate the Apocrypha, but it is not known from what 
source, perhaps from the Vulgate, or some of the East- 
ern versions or possibly the Septuagint itself. 

As we shall see it is chiefly then to King James' trans- 
lators that we are indebted for the discredit that has been 
thrown upon these books in modern times. I cannot 
here and now go into a detail of the various arguments 
for and against the Apocrytha, but I may give a few 
points only. 

1. The translators of the Septuagint found those books 
in the Jewish copy used by them when they commenced 
their labors in 280 B. C. 

2. They were then recognized by the Jews and have 
ever since been recognized as Scripture by the Greek- 
speaking Christian churches of the world. 

3. It is to later Jewish influences, however, I think 
that we are to look primarily for the cause of the discredit 
of these books. 

27 



4. After the Christian Era the Jewish scholars estab- 
lished in the East three great schools, known as Sora, 
Tiberius and Pembaditha. 

5. About the eleventh century the Arabs drove the Jews 
out of their country and schools, and many of them set- 
tled in Southern Europe, Spain, France, Italy and Ger- 
many. Here they were less disturbed and at once es- 
tablished centers for the cultivation of Hebrew learning. 

6. They brought with them some Hebrew MSS. The 
oldest manuscript of the Old Testament, now known, is 
supposed to be of the sixth, some say of the tenth cen- 
tury A. D. 

The first Hebrew book in Europe was Rashi's com- 
mentary on the Pentateuch, published at Reggio, Italy, 
in 1475. The first Hebrew Bible was published at Son- 
cino, Italy, in 1488. 

7. Now, as the Jews had been conquered by a Greek- 
speaking army in the East, on the revival of the Hebrew 
in the West, it is but natural that they would cast dis- 
credit on the language and literature of their oppressors, 
and would go back to the language and literature which 
had come down to them from Moses to Ezra, and es- 
pecially that literature which had been confirmed as sac- 
red by the Great Synagogue of which Nehemiah was 
probably the first president. Hence those books of the 
Apocrypha, written in Greek, as most of them were, they 
were now disposed to reject as being sacred, or of equal 
value to the others. 

8. And gradually some of the early Christian writers 
began to speak of them as being worthy to be read, but 
not to be considered of equal authority with the other 
books of the Old Testament. Jerome was about the first 
Christian writer who began to speak disparagingly of 
those books, and this may be accounted for largely from 
the fact that he made his Latin translation, called the 
Vulgate, not only in Palestine, but largely his translation 
of the Old Testament was made by a Jew who was his 
assistant, as Jerome did not understand much of Hebrew 
or Greek. In proof of his prejudice against the Greek, 

28 



Jerome separated from the books of Daniel and Esther, 
those strong Greek portions and removed them to the 
latter part of the Old Testament ; and which has thrown 
those books into almost hopeless confusion. It seemed 
a sufficient reason for Jerome to reject any book or part 
of a book from the Old Testament canon which he found 
in the Greek language. Indeed this prejudice against 
the Greek soon went so far among Jews as to consider 
the Hebrew exclusively the sacred language, and the 
Greek as a heathen tongue. And we have long believed 
that this is one important reason why the Jewish nation 
rejected Christianity, that it was introduced in the Greek 
language. And we believe that those Alexandrian Greek 
Jews, some of whom as chief priests came from Jerusa- 
lem for the purpose of making this translation, were as 
competent in every way of deciding what books should 
go into the canon of Old Testament Scripture as were 
the Jews of the Great Synagogue in the time of Ezra. 

In 1534 Luther published his complete Bible in which 
he named these books Apocrypha, and said of them that 
'•'They are not to be considered as equal to (Hebrew) 
Holy Scripture, and yet are useful and good to be read." 

But the famous Council of Trent, perhaps the most iir- 
portant convention of Christian scholars of those early 
times, adopted those books for the most part as canoni- 
cal but placing them in a different order from Jerome. 
And there is no special reason why the church of Rome 
should adopt these books as favoring its doctrine orpolity. 
The Church of England, in the first book of Homilies in 
1547, and the second in 1560, and the 35th Article in 156? 
all cite these books as Holy Scriptures. And in the prci 
ace to the book of Common Prayer they are referred 
to as being "agreeable to" the Holy Scripture. But the 
Calvinistic churches generally treat them as merely hu- 
man writings and of no divine authority. The Dutch 
confessions take a middle ground, allowing them to be 
read in the churches, but no doctrine is to stand on their 
testimony alone without the corroboration of the other 
books of the Bible. The Methodist Episcopal Church 
is not exact in its teaching on this subject. It treats as 

29 



Holy Scripture, "those canonical books of the Old and 
New Testament of whose authority was never any doubt 
in the church." 

Luther doubted the canonicity of Hebrews, James, 2nd 
Peter, 2nd and 3rd John and the Apocalypse, and he is far 
from standing alone in this opinion. Thus we reach the 
modern times in this discussion, and find the sentiment 
strong in favor of rejecting these books as a part of the 
Bible. But we can not account for this sentiment on this 
general principle, that in these latter times the tendency 
of criticism is to eliminate from the Bible all doubtful 
passages, and, of course, all doubtful books ; some advo- 
cating that it would be better to cut down the canon still 
more by omitting some books from the Old Testament, as 
the Song of Solomon, for instance, and perhaps the book 
of Revelation from the New, and we believe such might 
be done, and indeed still other books might be omitted 
and we would not suffer much loss, as we would still be 
able to defend the Bible as the book from God. 

But our preference would be to enlarge the canon by 
going back and replacing those books of the Apocrypha 
where they were before Christ and during his time and 
the time of the Apostles. This would furnish a common 
basis of Scripture upon which Christians of all lands and 
creeds could unite, which would not only be a grand con- 
summation, but would destroy a potent argument now in 
the hands of infidel critics. And if these books were 
placed in the Bible they would more certainly be pre- 
served, and all have agreed to this much at least — that 
they are valuable for instruction, and are an important 
link between the Old and the New Testament. 

Text of the Old Testament 

Thus far we have spoken chiefly of the books that have 
constituted the Old Testament and how they were se- 
lected, but we must now say a few words about the text 
from which the Old Testament has been translated into 
English. It seems certain that the Roman Catholics, in 
their English Bibles as well as others still follow closely 
the text of the Vulgate, that Latin translation made by 

30 



Jerome and a Jewish Rabbi in Palestine. They pay lit- 
tle attention to Hebrew MSS. new or old, no matter how 
valuable they may be considered by textual critics. And, 
withal, it is gratifying to know that so little variation has 
been found between the best Hebrew MSS. and this anci- 
ent version, since the differences have not been great 
enough to furnish a safe foot-hold for modern infidels. 
This Latin translation was based upon both the Septua- 
gint and some Hebrew MSS., and after many revisions the 
text was fixed under Clement VIII in 1592. 

This Latin version by Jerome was preceded by the Old 
or African Latin version, only fragments of which now 
remain, and which was made direct from the Septuagint 
alone. And the Vulgate was to a large extent, but a re- 
vision of this African version which was counted very 
valuable and was retained especially in Africa for some 
time after the adoption of the Vulgate elsewhere. And 
it should be remembered that this was the Bible from 
which the Latin Fathers quoted as the Septuagint was 
the Bible from which the Greek Fathers quoted. 

From the middle of the ninth century portions of this 
Latin Bible were published in German by the Roman 
Catholics, and the whole Bible in German appeared be- 
fore the invention of printing and five editions were pub- 
lished before 1477. Luther spent 12 years upon his Bible, 
and it was first published in parts, and finally completed in 
1534. There were 38 editions of the New Testament alone. 
He had no Hebrew MSS., but one Hebrew Bible published 
at Brescia in 1494, a reprint from the text published at 
Soncino, Italy. And how much Luther and his associ- 
ates used this Hebrew Bible is not known, but most like- 
ly not very much or very critically, as they were not con- 
sidered critical Hebrew scholars, and surely would not 
be so considered by the standard of to-day. They no 
doubt depended mostly upon those preceding Catholic 
German translations and the Vulgate. Down to the time of 
King James' translation in 161 1, all versions in England, 
Germany, France, Spain and Italy were derived mainly 
from the Vulgate and Luther's Bible, for this reason if 
for no other, that these versionists for the most part did 

31 



not understand enough of the Hebrew to rely critically 
and independently on the Hebrew language. 

We here make the following table : 

First Hebrew book in Europe, Rashi's commentary on 
the Pentateuch, Reggia, Italy, 1745. 

First Hebrew Bible, Soncino, Italy, 1488. 

First Hebrew Bible by a Christian, Cardinal Ximenes, 
Alcala, Spain, 1522. 

Hebrew Scholar, John Buxtorf, first Protestant Rab- 
binnical Bible, 161 1. 

We may now give a kind of genealogy of the principal 
Hebrew texts which are relied upon for textual criticism. 

1. That of Ben Asher who lived at Tiberius in the 
tenth century. 

2. That of Joseph Athias, published at Amsterdam, 
1661. He consulted two Spanish MSS., supposed dates, 
one about 761, the other 1209. 

3. That of Vander Hooght at Amsterdam, 1705, text 
same as that above. This is the text used by Bagster. 

4. Letteri's Bible, Vienna, 1852, a revision of the above 
text. This is the text used by the British and Foreign 
Bible Society. 

5. The text of Bomberg, Venice, 1 525-1 526. But after 
Vander Hooght, the Bomberg text "was the basis of all 
subsequent issues/' (Alexander Roberts, D. D.) The 
editor of this text was a learned Jew, Jacob ben Chasin, 
who adopted the pointed text. 

6. What Hebrew MSS., if any, were consulted by the 
revisors in 161 1 is not known. 

7 The text adopted, if any, by the revisors in 1881 is 
not known. But it must be admitted that since 161 1 our 
facilities for critically studying the original text have been 
greatly multiplied. It is true that the Massoretic or 
vocalized or pointed text had been made by eminent Jew- 
ish scholars as early as 600, who had their headquarters 
in the school of Hillel at Tiberius, Palestine. The other 

32 



great Hebrew school was called Shammai, and located at 
Babylon. And, as a result of vocalizing the text and 
writing the Mishna a long and bitter controversy sprang 
up, mainly between these schools, not, however, as to 
the correctness of the reading according to the pointing, 
which, of course, did fix more definitely the reading, but 
as to the right of vowelizing the text at all, as it had been 
without vowels, and perhaps all marginal notes from the 
beginning. 

And this controversy, instead of jeopardizing the 
text, has been a providential blessing in making these two 
divisions of the Jews watch with a jealous eye, the purity 
of the text. 

The school at Babylon held to the unpointed text, and 
rejected the entire written Talmud. And since 1611 a 
collection of unpointed MSS., called Karaite MSS., con- 
sisting of 138 volumes, has been discovered and placed in 
the British Museum. The Karaites are a highly re- 
spected class of Jews in Russia. The dates of these MSS. 
run from 958 to 1045. 

Here, then, is another great safeguard to the purity of 
the Hebrew text, for there are still those among us who 
prefer the unvowelized text. And yet with all these dis- 
coveries there are no important doctrinal or historical 
changes made necessary by the comparatively small num- 
ber of verbal differences in the MSS. And Hebrew MSS. 
are not rare, for Kennicott alone has collected 581. and 
DeRossi almost a similar number, besides the labor of 
other Hebrew scholars. But this is not all. Notwith- 
standing the great ocean of Talmudic literature, consist- 
ing of twelve immense folio volumes, and all of it origin- 
ally written by Jewish scholars since the beginning of the 
Christian era, consisting largely of critical notes and com- 
mentaries on the Hebrew text, yet that the text stands 
substantially as it was in the beginning, is cordially 
agreed to by both Jews and Christians. 

Neither have the three Greek versions of the Old Test- 
ament since the Christian era, that of Aquila, of Theodo- 
tian, or of Symmachus, or the Syriac versions, also made 
since the Christian era, cast any serious doubt on the 
purity of the Old Testament text. And what have in- 



fidel critics to say? They have not all been ignorant and 
destitute of that general knowledge and critical skill ne- 
cessary to pronounce an intelligent verdict on this sub- 
ject. But it is a fact, however, that most of them have 
totally neglected or refused to carefully investigate the 
subject themselves, and have been content with pointing 
out verbal inaccuracies, superficial contradictions, and 
recorded events of the ancient times, the moral character 
of which they claim cannot be justified by the acknowl- 
edged moral standard of to-day. But the answer to these 
objections which has been made a thousand times, does 
not fall within the line of my argument ; but I have this 
to say, that, to my knowledge, no infidel has gone deeply 
into and through the history of textual criticism and pub- 
lished to the world, even a small volume in attempt even 
to show that we have not the Bible to-day essentially as. 
it came from the pens of the original writers. 

But some of them have not been slow to stand before 
public audiences and in fulsome and rhetorical manners 
declare as follows : "Nobody knows who wrote these 
books, nobody knows where they came from, nobody 
knows why they should be considered different from 
hundreds of other books of simply human composition." 

This, then, in part, is why I have taken the time to pre- 
pare these pages. And I trust that by what I have been 
able to present, and much more lies scattered over the 
fertile field of inquiry, that you will be helped to see that 
your faith in this book as a divine record, does not rest 
upon a quivering quagmire of uncertainty, but upon the 
granite rock of historical truth which neither the raven- 
ous tooth of time nor the violent attack of skeptics can 
ever destroy. 



34 



CHAPTER III. 



WHAT ABOUT THE NEW TESTAMENT ? 

The New Testament is made up of 27 books, of which 
Paul wrote 14, more than on-half, and the other 13 books 
are distributed among seven authors. The books were 
not written at one time nor place, hence no collusion 
could be possible. 

The first was written by Matthew about 38, that is his 
Gospel, probably first written in Hebrew; and the last 
by John about 96. Thus between the first and the last 
book written was a period of 58 years, more than half a 
century. 

Matthew's Gospel had been in existence about 16 years 
before Paul, the next writer, in order of time, wrote the 
Thessalonians. He had then a written Gospel which had 
been read in the churches for 16 years to depend upon in 
his writing of first and second Thessalonians in the year 
54, and Gallatians in 58, and 1st Corinthians in 59, and 
2nd Corinthians and Romans in 60. 

Peter wrote his first letter in 60, and James also wrote 
his letter in the same year. Thus Paul, and Peter, and 
James had the use of the Gospel of Matthew for the Gos- 
pel facts which they made use of in their writings for 
about 22 years. 

But these Apostles were eye witnesses of the principal 
facts of the Gospel history, and could correct Matthew's 
record if found to be incorrect, but in no single instance 
do they do this. Luke published his Gospel in 63, and 
the Acts of the Apostles in 64. And the same year Paul 
published Ephesians, Collossians, Phillippians, Philemon,, 

35 



and Hebrews. In the publication of these books all in 
one year, with all his missionary work, Paul must have 
been a very busy man. He had before him two Gospels, 
Matthew and Luke, and the letters, ist Peter and James, 
and yet he finds nothing in them to correct or contradict. 

The next year (65) Paul wrote his ist Timothy and 
Titus, and Mark wrote his Gospel, and yet in no one of 
these books do we find anything to contradict what had 
been written before. The next year Jude wrote his_ short 
letter, and Peter his second letter, and Paul his second 
letter to Timothy, the last of his public writings which 
has been preserved. Paul still finds nothing in the writ- 
ings of the other Gospels or the other writers to con- 
tradict what he had written twelve years before, and what 
Matthew had written 28 years before, but on the other 
hand all they had written had been so repeatedly con- 
firmed that it is no wonder we find him so confidently tri- 
umphant at the last in saying to Timothy : "Hold fast 
the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in 
faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." And again he 
said to him : "Nevertheless the foundation of God stand- 
eth sure." And still again he says : "All scripture is given 
by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for 
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 
that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished 
unto all good works." Then he speaks in emphatic en- 
thusiasm and enjoins him to "preach the word." 

And now the climax is reached as he here reviews his 
writings and his work, and takes a fore-glance of things to 
come, and like the swan, his dying song is the grandest 
of all, though clanking in his chains, when he exclaims : 
"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I 
have kept the faith." 

And now, if the New Testament record ended here we 
would have abundant evidence to establish the truth of 
Christianity. Indeed I would be willing to let it rest 
alone upon the teachings of Matthew and Paul. Men 
might call in question whether Matthew's Gospel was 
genuine, but Paul's writings confirm the Gospel facts, 
and much of Paul's writings have never been called into 
question by any intelligent person. 

36 



But this is not the end of the word, nor the sum of all 
the testimony. Paul never saw a copy of John's Gospel 
or any of the writings of John, but his faith did not need 
this additional evidence. 

John wrote his Gospel and the three letters in the year 
90, and the Revelation in 96. He having the three Gos- 
pels, and all of Paul's writings, and the three letters, 
Peter, James and Jude, before him, he evidently did not 
think it necessary to repeat what had been so well said 
before by the other Evangelists, hence his Gospel is con- 
sidered supplementary to the others, and furnishes much 
new matter omitted by the other writers. Thus we have 
given a hasty review of the writings of the New Testa- 
ment, and the relation they sustain to each other, and the 
grand truth they were written to support. 

Now it is of interest and seems providential also that 
these books were written and sent abroad from the fol- 
lowing cities : Ten of them were written in and sent 
out from Rome, nine of them from Ephesus, four from 
Corinth, two from Jerusalem, one from Babylon, and one 
(Jude) uncertain as to the place. These were the ac- 
knowledged centers of learning in that day, so that the 
literature of Christianity started from the highest and 
most intellectual plain of that age. Perhaps one rea- 
son why only two possibly were published from Jeru- 
salem was that the Jews, as a nation, having rejected the 
Messiah, the Evangelists and Apostles turned their at- 
tention to the great centers of Gentile population. By 
Roman authority they were scattered abroad. 

Think of ten of these books going out at different per- 
iods during that fifty years, and going out from Rome, 
as we have shown, the then mistress of the world, and 
nine of them going out from that cultivated Grecian city 
of Ephesus, and four from that great commercial city of 
Corinth, and two from the great source of Judaism, Jeru- 
salem, Matthew and James, and one from far off Babylon, 
the first book of Peter ! See Rome in the West, and 
Babylon in the East, and Ephesus and CorintTi in the 
North, and Jerusalem in the South, and you behold the 
vast populations of that early time embraced in the area 
of the planting of Christianity, and the diffusion of its 

37 



light and power in saving the world. And it is a matter 
of continued surprise that these twenty-seven different 
books having been issued from such widely separated 
points, when brought together and diligently and honest- 
ly compared, should be found to differ so slightly, and 
harmonize so grandly on the stupendous facts and events 
which they all relate. And inasmuch as collusion is out 
of the question, is it unreasonable for a man to say, "I 
believe that they were guided by an unerring Spirit in 
writing those records?" 

Inspiration of the New Testament 

This brings us to the question of the inspiration of the 
New Testament. What was the impulse that moved them 
to write these books? Did they do so for literary fame? 
They were men who were not looking for the honor that 
comes from men. From our standpoint it would be con- 
sidered exposure enough to the cruelties of the times to 
preach the doctrine of the Nazarene ; but to write it down 
and send it abroad would greatly augment their cruel per- 
secutions. They, in their writings, tell us that holy men 
of old, those ancient Jewish writers, spoke as they were 
moved by the Holy Spirit, but now how was it with 
themselves? 

These Evangelists and Apostles had received power 
from on high, the baptism of the Spirit, when they en- 
tered upon their public mission, and that same divine in- 
fluence was witnessed in the wonderful works which at- 
tended their ministrations, and when they wrote their 
letters, they were as truly preaching to those people as 
if doing so by the word of mouth ; but, of course, be- 
cause of the absence of the inspired writer in person, 
the same wonderful results did not usually follow the 
reading of those letters. And yet it would be easy to 
furnish many notable instances where wonderful spirit- 
ual results have followed the proper and devout read- 
ing of the New Testament, as in the cases of Luther and 
Wesley. 

But their humility and modesty might prevent them 
from saying much personally about self-inspiration, and 
yet the most of these writers either directly or indirectly, 

38 



confess that they were moved by a divine impulse, not 
only in speaking, but in writing as well ; and we ought, 
in the absence of any other sufficient motive, to accept 
their statements. 

And their statements are clearly corroborated, as we 
have noted, by the divine influence that has attended 
their preaching and writings. 

Let me now state a strong case against myself for the 
sake of the argument. Suppose that some minister in 
our day should write and preach a sermon on some Gos- 
pel theme, and then print and send abroad that sermon, 
and a powerful influence attends the delivery of that ser- 
mon, and letters received tell him of the deep spiritual in- 
fluence of that sermon on those who have read it. Now, 
then, was that minister inspired, and should not that 
spiritual sermon be received as Scripture? Would not 
that sermon stand on the same or a similar basis as the 
letters of the Apostles? I have had this case stated to 
me and it is regarded as a strong putting of the case. 

The positions, at first view, seem very similar, but in 
truth they differ widely. First of all, not many persons 
claim that there is now, and for good reasons, as full 
measure of spiritual power in the world as at the Apos- 
tolic period. And second, these Apostles were chosen 
and endowed accordingly to establish Christianity as a 
new institution in the world, and this they did by preach- 
ing and writing chiefly its foundational facts ancl events. 
And that work has been sufficiently done by a sufficient 
number of persons and writings, so that more of the 
same kind would be a needless repetition, and could add no 
conceivable weight of testimony; so that now a man that 
will reject Christianity as set forth in these New Testa- 
ment writings, would reject a whole library of similar tes- 
timony on the same subject. 

But the case is faulty in another respect. Suppose 
that sermon was inspired, and we may freely admit that 
it was, for I am sure that I have heard many sermons 
that have been attended by a spiritual influence as truly 
if not as fully as any sermons Paul ever preached. 

The fact of inspiration itself is not a sufficient reason 
for deciding on what must be recognized as Holy Scrip- 

39 



ture. As we have already more than intimated, there was 
a divine purpose in those writings of the Apostles and 
Evangelists which cannot be exactly paralleled in any 
subsequent period; and that purpose was the founding 
and confirming of Christianity in the world. It is true in 
a subordinate sense, that every true Christian life does 
this in its measure, but that is not the main purpose of 
any life to-day, humble or however exalted. So that the 
supposed case falls, and the Evangelists and the Apos- 
tles and their writings, stand grandly prominent in spir- 
itual influence, and for a pre-eminent purpose, that 
Christianity is a divine institution. 

And further, it is not of much profit to institute a com- 
parison of spiritual endowment between the New and Old 
Testament writers, but it is sufficient to know that both 
classes were divinely guided to a divine purpose. But 
if the comparison is made, I think that the New Testa- 
ment writers possessed the higher inspiration. This last 
was to be in a higher degree a spiritual dispensation, 
and the prophets had foretold an extraordinary out-pour- 
ing of the spiritual power in the Gospel times, of which 
the chief agents would receive an unusual measure, and 
all of which was literally fulfilled in New Testament 
times. 

New Testament Canon 

We are next to consider at what time and by what 
method, their writings were collected together, so as to 
constitute what we now call the New Testament. 

You will recollect that at the first, these books were 
widely scattered even from Babylon to Rome, and lest 
some of them perish, either by time or in the fires of per- 
secution, it surely was a wise suggestion, let it come 
from what source it did, to collect these books together. 
It is known that the Emperor Diocletian instituted a de- 
structive persecution against the Christians ; and one of 
his chief purposes was to destroy all those writings upon 
which the church would rely for proof of the new dis- 
pensation. But in this, of course, he was not successful, 
and it is fortunate for us that we have a catalogue of 

40 



those books, made before this persecution, and which 
corresponds with the New Testament, in the main, as we 
have it now. 

This catalogue was made by Origen, of Alexandria, the 
profoundest theological scholar of his time. He was 
born 184 and died at Tyre 254. In 204 he was at the 
head of the famous Alexandrian school, and in 215 he 
established a similar school at Caesarea, Palestine, where 
so many of the Greek fathers were educated. His criti- 
cal exegetical labors were immense and valuable. 

Eusebius has left us a similar catalogue. He was born 
at Caesarea, Palestine, about 260. He was a student of 
theology at Antioch under Dorotheus and afterwards at 
Caesarea under Pamphilus, a pupil and ardent admirer of 
Origen. 

But that this important subject of the canon should not 
rest upon the individual judgment of even such eminent 
Christian scholars as Origen and Eusebius, the matter 
was reviewed in many of the early church councils, and 
the New Testament catalogue, as we now have it, was 
formally ratified by the third council of Carthage 397. 
And altogether there are now extant ten early cata- 
logues of the books of the New Testament, and of these, 
six agree exactly with our New Testament, while of the 
other four, three omit only the Apocalypse and one omits 
this book and Hebrews, and these omissions can be sat- 
isfactorily explained. 

And it is worthy of note also that these catalogues, like 
the books themselves, were made at widely different and 
distant points, and yet that they should so exactly agree 
ought to establish the most profound confidence in the 
New Testament record. And that the question should 
be officially settled at Carthage is also worthy of special 
notice. Carthage was a famous city on the north coast 
of Africa, and long the rival of the proud city of Rome, 
but at last conquered by Rome 146 B. C, and for many 
recent centuries, even the place of its founding has been 
obliterated, and we are now just beginning to find the 
ashes of its ruins. Carthage was the birth place of Ter- 
tullian in 160, and of Cyprian in 200, and the seat of a 

41 



metropolitan bishop. Here the church held fourteen dif- 
ferent councils, and the third was held in 397, which rati- 
fied the canon. 

It was at this council where the famous African bishop, 
Augustine manifested his -wonderful influence and theo- 
logical power. A convert under the celebrated Ambrose, 
a master in theology, a scholar of profound learning, a 
bishop of Hippo for 35 years, it was largely to his ability 
that the canon of the entire Bible was confirmed, and it 
should not be forgotten that it included the Apocrypha 
also. 

Thus is it seen in what a public and intelligent manner 
the question of what books constitute the New Testa- 
ment, and indeed the whole Bible, was finally determined. 

And now at this remote time it is not possible for us 
to know all the points which were considered, and on 
which they based their decision. But one very important 
point, however, was that these books had been read in 
the churches and approved by them for many years. An- 
other valuable consideration was that they were written 
by an acknowledged Evangelist or Apostle. These were 
the strong points which mainly determined the catalogue. 
No doubt the purity of their language, their high moral 
tone, and the deeply spiritual themes which marked them 
off more or less distinctly from all other writings of their 
day had great weight with them. Indeed we may say 
there was almost universal consent, especially by the earl- 
iest councils and fathers, as to these books. It is true 
that most of the early fathers questioned the Pauline au- 
thorship of Hebrews, but few denied but that it belonged 
properly to the canon. Some doubted, also, the right to 
admit James, Jude, 2nd Peter, 2nd and 3rd John, and the 
Revelation, into the canon ; but they were finally nearly 
all agreed that these should be recognized as Scripture. 

But it may be rightly asked if all these books are prop" 
erly Holy Scripture, may it not be that some books were 
left out that should have been received? It is surely true 
that there were many other writings of a high grade in 
those early times, and of which they had personal knowl- 
edge, and which they often referred to. You will recall 
what has been said about the Apocrypha of the Old Testa- 

42 



merit. So likewise the New Testament has its Apocry- 
pha, or books not accepted, although not so named. 
There are only four books that are worthy of mention, 
and first among these is the Epistle of Barnabas. You 
will know that he was the distinguished traveling com- 
panion of Paul, and hence anything he might write would 
naturally receive considerable attention; and although it 
is found in two good MSS., the Sinaitic and the Clare- 
mont, and it was referred to by Origen and Clement, yet 
it was never accepted by any council, as canonical. 

Another book of high quality is named Shepherd of 
Hermes. It is also found in the same manuscripts refer- 
red to above, but it was never accepted by any council. 

Another valuable document is, "The Epistle of Clem- 
ent to the Corinthians." There were two of them. These 
letters were of early date, not later than the time oT the 
Revelation MS., and they are found in the Alexandrian 
MS., and in the Apostolical Canons, and they were read in 
the churches, and were accepted by Eusebius, and the 
council of Laodicea permitted them to be read in the 
churches. But they were finally declared uncanonical and 
hence were excluded. 

The last book to be named is "The Apocalpse of 
Peter/' It is found in the Claremont codex, and was 
placed along side of Revelation in the catalogue of 
Muratori, and was held in high esteem for manv years, 
and was long preserved among the Coptic Christians, but 
was not admitted into the canon. I think the New Test- 
ament would not have been seriously harmed by admit- 
ting these books, but on the other hand, it would not have 
been materially strengthened by them. They are valu- 
able documents, however, as relating to the literature of 
that time, and should be carefully preserved. 

But there was a large number of writings which ap- 
peared during the Apostolic era and immediately there- 
after, which have never been advocated by any consider" 
able number of scholars as being worthy to be called 
Holy Scripture. 

There are known to exist more than half a dozen other 
Gospels, and more than 22 Epistles, and ten other writ- 
ings, mostly in Greek, written mostly during the first four 

43 



centuries. During about the same time also, there are 
about thirty Gospels and 37 other writings referred to- 
by the early writers, but which documents are not known 
to be in existence. We have recently discovered some 
of them, and more may be found, but no one expects 
much from them, either for or against Christianity. 

That these Apocryphal Gospels and spurious epistles 
were never referred to by the New Testament writers, 
as possibly some of them existed during the later writers, 
is proof how utterly unworthy they considered them to 
be. 

False Christs arose, and also false writings, but the 
early church seems to have had but little trouble concern- 
ing them, particularly their writings. And the fact that 
the church, during the first three centuries, utterly re- 
pudiated these writings proves the critical care and ability 
of the early councils. 

Strauss, knowing of these false writings, made a strong 
effort to place the New Testament writings on the same 
basis, and thus he gained the notoriety of advocating the 
mythical theory of the origin of all those writings of the 
Gospel period, and no infidel effort ever failed more in- 
gloriously than this. The early church had no trouble 
with those spurious writings, and it is too late now to 
make a sincere attempt to involve the church in trouble 
concerning them, or to prove that they were originally of 
equal value to those now accepted by the Christian 
Church. 

Inasmuch as the original writings, the autographs, of 
the New Testament writers have long since perished, how 
can we be sure that we now possess in truth the New 
Testament at all? You will recollect that the canon was 
finally determined about 397. We have a Greek manu- 
script dating back to that very century, and which criti- 
cal scholars have named the Sinaitic, because it was dis- 
covered in 1859 ^ tna t eminent critic, Tischendorf, in 
the convent of St. Catherine, at the foot of Mt. Sinai. 
This is a magnificent old Bible containing the old and 
New Testaments, including the Apocrypha, the Epistle of 
Barnabas, and part of the Shepherd of Hermes. The 
parchment is made of fine material, perhaps the skins of 

44 



young antelopes. It has 346J leaves, 149 of the Old and 
147J of the New Testament, and each leaf is 14J inches 
long and 13^ inches wide. The Old Testament has two 
columns to the page, and the New four. 

The original copy is now in St. Petersburg, Russia, but 
copies were first published at Leipsic in 1862, at the ex- 
pense of Alexander 11, in four volumes. Copies of this 
edition are now in the Astor, Lenox, the Union Theo- 
logical libraries at New York, at Andover and other li- 
braries in the United States, as well as in the principal 
libraries of Europe. It was written at Alexandria about 
the middle of the fourth century, and thus we are di- 
rectly connected with the council of Carthage where the 
same books were adopted as the canon, except the last 
two. 

This is regarded as the oldest and best of the early 
Greek Bibles, and was chiefly relied upon by the revisors 
of the Bible in 1881, and is the principal text used in 
many of our theological seminaries. But we are not de- 
pendent upon this early Bible alone. There is another of 
the same century, and also written in Alexandria, but the 
transcriber seems to have been suddenly interrupted in 
his work, as he stops at Hebrew 9:14. There are other 
small parts of it wanting but it included, with the above 
exceptions, the Old and New Testaments. It is a beau- 
tiful MS., and is now in the Vatican library, and hence 
is called the Vatican Codex. For many years no Pro- 
testant scholar was permitted to see it. It is written on 
very fine vellum, and contains 759 leaves, 613 in the Old 
Testament, and 146 in the New, and each leaf is 10 inches 
long, and 10J inches wide, and has three narrow columns 
in clear legible writing. 

There is another very important Greek Bible, also writ- 
ten in Alexandria about the fifth century, and is named 
the Alexandrian MS. It contains also both Testaments, 
and also the first and part of the second Epistle of Clem- 
ent at the end of the Codex. It contains 773 leaves, 12 J 
inches long, and 10J inches wide, and having two columns 
to the page. 

There are two other early Greek Bibles of about the 
same date as the one above, and also written in Alexan- 

45 



dria, but are not so complete as those described above, 
and* we will not pause to speak of them. Now you will 
have noticed how complete these three Bibles are, and 
that they were written in Alexandria, which confirms our 
former statement that that city was the metropolis of the 
early church ; and that it was the headquarters for critical 
scholarship in theology. 

Along with this is another important historical fact. 
About 332, 45 years before the settlement of the canon 
(397), Constantine, who greatly admired Eusebius, then 
sixty years of age, and then a bishop of Caesarea for 23 
years, directed him to employ skillful writers, and make 
fifty-two legible copies of the entire Scriptures, for the 
use of the churches in Constantinople, and doubtless 
other places. 

That Eusebius was abundantly competent to do this 
work himself no one will call in question, especially when 
we remember that it is said of him that he transcribed 
most of the voluminous works of Origen with his own 
hand. You will recollect that he was educated at the col~ 
leges of Antioch and Caesarea, celebrated school centers 
of that day, and here, in his own native city, he was so 
much admired that he spent the last twenty-five years of 
his life as bishop of that diocese. And now some critical 
scholars, and Tischendorf among them, believe that one 
of those fifty-two copies of the Bible was the Codex found 
in the convent at Sinai, and perhaps the other two I have 
described were among the number. And, if so, it is prob- 
able that Eusebius, with his clerks, if he had any, went 
to Alexandria to make those copies. And furthermore 
it is quite probable that he made those copies from the 
autographs ; the original writings as made by the Evan- 
gelists and Apostles themselves, the very documents, it 
may be, upon which the council at Carthage had ren- 
dered its final decision on the canon, and which decision 
corresponds so well with these MSS. 

Thus it may be seen how closely the New Testament of 
to-day is connected with those books as they came from 
the hands of the authors. But it is possible that in some 
instances we have linked certain historical facts too 
closely together, and possibly have transposed some of 

46 



the links in the chain of events, yet the historical facts re- 
main, and will ever be considered by every candid in- 
quirer after truth, clear proof, that we have solid ground 
for the confidence that we have the New Testament sub- 
stantially as it was given by the New Testament writers 
themselves. 

But I would not leave the impression that our present 
English Bible is a translation from any one of those three 
early Greek Bibles exclusively, of which we have spoken. 
King James' revisors had before them only one MS., 
dating earlier than the tenth or twelfth century ; that was 
the Codex of Beza of the sixth century, very incomplete, 
and having only the Gospels and the Acts. And the best 
critics of to-day do not rely upon it. They had a num- 
ber of good cursive MSS., dating from the tenth cen- 
tury downward, and with these and various versions at 
their command, they were enabled to give the English- 
speaking people the best version they had ever_ received. 
The truth is that as yet no standard Greek text of the 
New Testament or Hebrew text of the Old Testament 
has been agreed upon by Biblical critics. I have spoken 
of the text used by Bagster for the Old Testament, and of 
the one used by the British and Foreign Bible Society, 
but no one has been officially declared as standard. 

Perhaps one cause of this delay is the hope that in a 
not distant day the convents of the East, and other sup- 
posed treasure houses will be compelled to open their 
doors and surrender their ancient archives to the Chris- 
tian scholars of to-day. But it must not be supposed that 
the Christian world is suffering for the lack of the infor- 
mation which those secret vaults are supposed to con- 
tain. All the MSS. discovered since King James' revis- 
ion, although they have been most critically examined, 
reveal nothing disparaging or essentially contradictory 
to the writings as they now exist. And no critic expects 
or fears the discovery in the future of anything that will 
throw discredit upon the creditability of those books. 

As we said before, all the modern discoveries, those re- 
markable slabs or monoliths, those valuable MSS. or 
those spurious Gospels or other writings, and the results 
of all archaeological explorations emphatically confirm the 

47 



New Testament record. And it may be very appropri- 
ately said that on these Oriental marbles, on these prec- 
ious alabasters, on these variegated granites, which have 
witnessed the fall and decay of many empires and king" 
doms, on these may yet be read with more or less com- 
pleteness a monumental Bible. 

Neither is there any danger to the credibility of the 
New Testament, or the whole Bible, arising from the 
large number of versions in which it has been rendered 
or may yet be rendered. Some have supposed that these 
versionists may in time get so far away from the original 
Greek in which they were at first written, that there may 
be a great loss of original significance and power and 
truth. And it is certain that no lasting or general cor- 
ruption of the records either in versions or translations 
can ever take place so long as the present critical 
scholarship and fervent devotion in the Christian world 
shall continue, and these will increase rather than de- 
crease. 

And we trust we do not underestimate the value of all 
classes of evidence in proof of Christianity. But some 
prefer the experimental evidence, others the moral, and 
yet others the miraculous, and still others the propheti- 
cal evidence, and yet to me there is nothing so realistic, 
so unwavering, so eternal as the historical and document- 
ary basis of Christianity. And in all our public efforts we 
have encouraged the people not to reach upward and 
feel after the floating particles in the religious and phikr 
sophical atmosphere ; but to reach downward and lay 
hold on the foundational truths of a written Christianity. 
Of all the harbors of truth there is none so safe as this. 

And of all the so-called sacred books in the world, 
there is none worthy to be held up by the side of the Holy 
Bible. To institute the comparison is like placing a star 
of the fiftieth magnitude by the side of the broad and 
brilliant sun at noon-day, or like in a dark night to com- 
pel a little wax taper to compete with a great search-light 
of a million candle-power. 

And now we have presented all the points we can at this 
time. We have tried to condense and simplify and then 
focalize these facts on your mind and memory and soul, 

48 



so that neither your time nor mine shall have been spent 
in vain, for if there is anything that we almost hate, it is 
a blind belief, or a superstitious reverence for anything, 
no matter how sacred it may be. We could not be a de- 
votee of anything that could not bear the light. Among 
the many banners that have been flung to the breeze in 
the march of progress, there is one especially under which 
we love to keep step to the inspiring music, and it bears 
this inscription, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth 
shall make you free." 

We have tried to show that the Christian's confidence is 
based upon a reasonable faith, and his faith is based upon 
the most substantial testimony, that the Bible is a 
divine book, compiled by men acting under a divine guid- 
ance, and it is difficult for us to comprehend the vast sig- 
nificance of this conclusion. To help us to see it, behold 
the awful significance of the negative of this proposition. 
If the Bible is not divine, no Christian enterprise, whether 
material, benevolent, or spiritual, can survive, for Chris- 
tianity in all its compass and purpose, is then but a gi- 
gantic fraud upon humanity ; it is a deception imposed on 
the credulity of mankind. But that it is none of these things 
we think that we have shown you ; that its inspiration, 
its basis, the Word of God, was given to the world in the 
most reasonable way possible. 

And we have not presented these points for the main 
purpose of checkmating the bold advances of infidels and 
skeptics, since there is not much of this in this day. If 
any of this kind of persons, however, have read what we 
have had to say, it is hoped that they will not only have 
more intelligent understanding of the basis of Christian 
faith, but will themselves be induced to fall in with the 
great trend of Christian thought and effort in this day. 

And, finally, may we say that we hope to have added 
some impulse to the broad and intelligent Christian work 
of applied Christianity in this day by showing possibly the 
clear foundation and inspiration of it all as found in the 
broad, all-compassing Christian life of its Founder, who 
was the prophecy of the Old Testament and the fulfill- 
ment of the New. 

We can remember when infidels reproached the Chris- 

49 



tian people for simply harboring a sentiment, however 
good it may be, and yet neglecting, or largely limiting, 
the benevolent work which can be the only visible proof 
of the existence of that sentiment. But the broader 
church work of to-day in which, in all of our large cities 
especially, there is not only such vast and emphatic need, 
but there is also such a grand beginning, and in which we 
trust you are ardently engaged ; this kind of work is not 
only putting to silence such objections, but is attracting 
the cordial co-operation of this class of society as well 
as the most progressive elements of all other classes. 



3> 



50 



CHAPTER IV. 



COSMOGONY, SCIENCE AND 
REVELATION 

Science is knowledge. It is neither the knowable nor 
the unknowable, but the known, and it may be either 
truth or fact. Investigation and even speculation may be 
necessarily prevenient to, but neither one is science. Sci- 
ence is a result and not a process, and the more clearly 
it is freed from conjecture and hypothesis, or the more 
fully it comes within the grasp of the understanding, or 
the circle of the comprehension the more worthy it is of 
the designation as science. Before science is obtained 
there are often many revisions and transpositions, and 
sometimes fatal disasters. 

The adventurer is the Columbus, experimentation is 
the uncertain voyage, doubts are the threatening mutiny 
of the sailors, but science is the new world discovered. 
Much of that which is now current as science is not gen- 
uine, it is nothing but alloy, or at most, it has not the 
legal admixture of truth and fact. It is like the explorer 
at the base of a mountain, ambitious it is true, but stand- 
ing confused, bewildered, amid the complex winding 
paths that lead to its summit, but science is the explorer 
standing upon its sun-crowned summit, shouting video, 
scio, I see, I know. 

Skeptical scientists complain that theologians so often 
change their interpretation of the Bible, and so they have 
done, and doubtless will continue to do as the light shall 
continue to increase, for while the Bible is at once and 
invariably true, their exegesis may now and then vary 
and occasionally be false, as no one claims interpretation 

61 



to be infallible, and this admission does in no way essen- 
tially depreciate the word of God as a revelation from 
heaven. But, on the other hand, scientists have varied 
as well in their interpretations of nature, and have pub- 
lished unnumbered theories as true, and have afterwards 
abandoned them as false, but this does not make nature 
untrue. Men have differed in the interpretation of the 
Bible, but that fact does not render the inspired volume 
unworthy of credence. Men have differed in the inter- 
pretation of nature ; and we do not, therefore, say that 
nature is contradictory, and hence false. It will be time 
enough for skeptical scientists to make this grave charge 
when they have sheathed their Damascus blades and 
ceased their conflict among themselves, and we need not 
fear much until they are better harmonized among them- 
selves, indeed we may calmly sit still in the citadel of Re- 
vealed Truth and fear little or nothing as we look out and 
behold them coming to storm it, so long as we see the 
crossing of swords among the foe. 

Speaking of the Positive philosophy of Comte, Prof. 
Huxley says : "I find therein little or nothing of any 
scientific value and a great deal which is as thoroughly 
antagonistic to the very essence of science as anything 
in ultramontane Catholicism/' So the contest has gone 
on; one class of scientists charging the other with being 
unscientific, and whenever in their teachings, bearing 
dangerously upon any important principle of Christianity, 
they present anything near unanimity of opinion even 
and much more so of invariable conclusions, we should 
then meet them as worthy antagonists. But let us not 
waste our strength upon an irresponsible and scattered 
enemy, as many of these professed scientists are un- 
worthy of our steel, and the only way of successful war- 
fare with them is to occasionally, at long range, drop a 
shell into their camp, as regular and honorable warfare 
they do not appreciate. But strictly speaking, there is 
no conflict between Nature and Revelation, but it must be 
confessed that there has been great want of harmony 
between the interpretations of the one and the interpreta- 
tions of the other. One or both of these interpretations 
may be erroneous and hence there will be conflict, but be- 



tween a correct interpretation of the Bible and a correct 
interpretation of nature as we see it, there can be no in- 
harmony. We most positively, therefore, reject from our 
usage the expression, "true science," as being tautologi- 
cal, and as an effort to make a distinction where there is 
no dfference, for all science is true, and all departments of 
thought and inquiry that fail to come up to this definition 
at most attain only to a probability or possibility, and 
many even fall so low as to only entitle them to vain spec- 
ulation. Hence what the Bible, fairly considered, positive- 
ly and repeatedly declares to be true should not be pro- 
nounced as certainly false, by simply a conjecture of sci- 
entific men, as the increasing mass of evidence in favor 
of the credibility of the Bible is so clear and convincing 
that it should not be set aside by the ever varying theor- 
ies of speculative minds. 

In 1302, at Courtria, France, a famous battle occurred 
between the knights and citizens of a small Flemish town, 
and as the knights rushed forward with loose bridles they 
fell one after another into an enormous ditch which lay 
between them and their enemies, and when they came to 
gather up the spoils of the awful slaughter they found 
4.000 golden spurs which indicated the extent and nature 
of the awful engagement. So now I see the modern gal- 
lant knights of skepticism with loose rein dashing on 
towards the apparently defenceless citizens of the Zion of 
God, but now I see them one after another, horse and 
rider, plunge into the awful chasm of defeat and all that 
will be left will be a few golden spurs with which they 
pricked their own sides with a vaulting ambition. And 
after all the storming of the ages the foundations of the 
city of God standeth sure. 

Cosmogony 

Cosmogony is that science which treats of the origin 
of the world in particular, and of matter in general. Upon 
this subject the Bible speaks clearly and emphatically, 
and the very opening chapter of the inspired volume 
gives out no uncertain statement. In no florescent 
but in unpoetic and didactic style it ascribes the 

53 



creation and formation of matter to Divine power 
and the Scriptures unvaryingly teach that it was God who 
created the world. The heathen writers on cosmogony 
may be divided into two classes ; first, those who believed 
the world eternal in form as well as in substance, but this 
theory, however, was not clearly taught by many, but 
the belief was that the matter of the earth was eternal but 
not its form, but upon this subject they were more or less 
confused. The Greek poets, the Phoenicians and Baby- 
lonians all speak of chaos as the original condition of 
all matter, out of which came all the varied forms of the 
universe. So much harmonizes well with Revelation. 
The oldest of the Greek poets, Hesiod, speaks of the ar- 
rangement or separation of this chaos by a Divine Power 
working in conjunction with the laws of nature when 
he says : 

"Nothing preserved its form, 

Each thing opposed the rest, since in one frame 

The cold with hot things fought, the moist with dry, 

The soft with hard, the light with heavy things. 

This strife the God and kindly nature quelled, 

By clearing sky from land and land from sea, 

And parting liquid sky from thicker air." 

The entire paragraph seems a good paraphrase of the 
first verses of Genesis, and while they thus accounted for 
the reduction of this chaos to order, how did they account 
for the existence of the chaos? The most enlightened of 
them taught that co-existent with eternal matter was an 
eternal spirit, and Aristotle taught that this spirit was 
"the cause of the universe, its motion and its form." It 
was a well known maxim of Plato that mind was prior 
to matter, and with here and there a single exception, as 
Justin Martyr for instance, the entire Christian world has 
steadily held fast to the doctrine of the Divine creation of 
matter. Now, does science teach the eternity of matter? 
In other words, is it scientifically known that matter is 
eternal? I know that we have often been sagely re- 
minded of the Latin saying, "ex nihilo nihil fit" from no- 
thing, nothing can be made, creation of something out of 
nothing is absurd. But is the apparent absurdity an un- 
doubted proof that it may not be true nevertheless? 

F4 



What thoughtful person would venture far upon such a 
course of reasoning? It may be simply absurd because 
we cannot at present understand it. 

But to say that matter is eternal does not explain the 
difficulty; it only shifts the specter to another point on 
our mental horizon. To us it is yet incomprehensible. To 
say that matter is eternal, without beginning, is contrary 
to all analogy of material things themselves, and con- 
tradicts that almost universal sentiment of humanity 
which is, "everything has a beginning." 

Dr. Buchner, from Germany, a few years ago paid a 
lecturing visit to the United States, but that visit created 
nothing more than a local enthusiasm, if indeed that 
much. The people of this country do not wish to listen 
to such blank Atheism. Dr. Whedon pronounced him 
"the Atheist of Europe. " He has published a book en- 
titled, "Force and Matter," in which he speaks of the in- 
finity and immortal nature of matter. Neither from as- 
tronomy, nor geology, nor from zoology does he even 
infer a Creator. And let it be remembered that while 
this is his dark and cheerless teaching, it is not the teach- 
ing of science. And while science does not clearly teach 
the creation of matter by a Divine Being, it strongly con- 
firms the Bible doctrine that it had a beginning, and 
hence must have been created, and God only can create. 
Astronomy and zoology and geology all point with more 
or less certainty to the objects coming within their view 
as having at least a probable age, and if they have had age 
they have had time, and if they have had time they are 
not eternal. And especially in geology everything points 
back to the beginning, not to a series of beginnings only, 
but to one primal beginning. It is a settled principle in 
science that man, animals, plants and inorganic matter 
were not co-existent in their beginnings, and all of these 
grand beginnings point with more than the certainty of 
the magnetic needle away back to that grandest of all be- 
ginnings in which God created the heaven and the earth. 

But some have sought for points of parallelism between 
the Mosaic account and the Babylonian epic of creation, 
with a view of casting discredit upon the former as an 
original revelation. But there are parallels also in the 

55 



cosmogonies of Egypt, Persia and India, and did Moses 
therefore borrow from these sources also? This would 
make Moses one of the most omniverous scholars and 
eclecticians known to ancient history.There are but two 
great thoughts in the Mosaic account, that of God and 
creation, and the account seems sincere and simple as 
compared with the Babylon epic. The latter is extrava- 
gant and mythological in an eminent degree. The ac- 
count of the first men is hideous ; men with two wings, 
some with four wings and two faces, with one body but 
two heads ; men with goat's feet and horns, etc. We are 
not ready to give up Genesis as an original document. 

Origin of the Universe 

The universe includes what is known as the heavenly 
bodies, the sun, the moon, the planets, the stars, the ne- 
bulae and the comets. As to the origin of the heavenly 
bodies that brings up the question as to the origin of 
matter itself. This question does not belong exclusively 
to astronomy, but to all physical science as well. We 
do not here, therefore, discuss the question itself as to 
the origin of matter. We will simply give an account of 
the origin of the universe as it now appears. The com- 
monly accepted theory is called the Nebular Hypothesis. 
This theory was first suggested by Swedenborg, and then 
by Kant, and afterwards by others and finally worked out 
into a system by La Place. The universal principles upon 
which this theory is based or rather lying back of it may 
be noted as follows : 

First, The orbits of the planets are nearly circular. 

Second, They are all nearly in one plane. 

Third, The revolution of these planets without ex- 
ception is in the same direction. 

Fourth, There is a regular progression of distances to 
which there is only one exception and that is Neptune. 

Fifth, The plane of the planet's rotation nearly coin- 
cides with the plane of its orbit, the only exception be- 
ing that of Uranus. 

56 



Sixth, The direction of rotation is the same as that 
of its orbital motion, excepting, perhaps, Uranus and 
Neptune. 

Seventh, The plane of the orbital revolution of the 
planet's satellites coincides nearly with that of the plan- 
et's rotation. 

Eighth, The direction of the satellite's revolution co- 
incides with that of the planet's rotation. 

Ninth, The largest planets rotate the most swiftly. 

This wonderful system and the complete harmony in 
this arrangement of the universe indicates to the minds 
of some people that it was made so by the Creator, but 
as everything in nature shows growth and development 
it seems more likely that the science of astronomy har- 
monizes with this general law rather than that it should 
contradict it. The nebular theory is therefore a theory 
of evolution or development. The principles upon which 
it was first supposed to be founded as taught by LaPlace 
may be mentioned as follows : 

First, That at sometime in the past the matter which 
is now embraced in the universe was in the form of 
nebulae. 

Second, This nebulae was a mist of intensely heated 
gas. 

Third, Under the action of its own gravitation the 
nebulae in its own rotation assumed a globular form. 

Fourth, In consequence of the rotation, the globe 
would naturally become flattened at the poles, and as the 
contraction would go on by reason of cooling, the centri- 
fugal force at the equator would become equal to gravity 
and finally throw off rings of nebulous matter somewhat 
like the rings of Saturn. 

Fifth, The rings thus formed would for a time re- 
volve around the planet, but ultimately break up into 
fragments forming a globe or globes revolving around 
the first as a planet. 

57 



Sixth, The planet thus formed might throw off rings 
of its own and so form satellites which might revolve 
around the planet itself. 

This is a brief outline of the theory. 

There are many serious objections urged against it. It 
is, however, supposed that it explains most of the princi- 
ples and facts connected with the origin of the universe. 
That it is susceptible of great modification we most sin- 
cerely believe., 

Another theory for the origin of the universe has been 
advocated by Prof. L. Lockyer, and it is called the Mete- 
oric Theory. In brief it is that all the heavenly bodies in 
their present state are mere clouds of meteors or have 
been formed by the aggregation of such clouds. Prof. 
Lockyer claims to have discovered by the use of the spec- 
troscope evidence sufficiently clear upon which to base 
his theory. 

These two theories, however, are' based upon argu- 
ments which refer to the great past. There are other 
theories more modern than these upon which are based 
principles of reasoning forwards ; that is, by supposing 
what will finally be the result in the universe. For in- 
stance, it is generally accepted that the earth was once 
much hotter than it is now, that it is gradually cooling; 
also that the moon was formerly an intensely heated body 
but now seems to be entirely chilled. It seems quite 
evident that the most distant planets as Saturn, Uranus 
and Neptune have not cooled off to anything like the de- 
gree that the earth has. As to the sun it is a question as 
to what is its real constiuency. If it is gradually shrink- 
ing at the rate of two 'hundred and fifty feet a year in 
diameter as the result of the output of light and heat, 
it must at last be exhausted, unless there is an inexhaus- 
tible supply coming into it. If, however, the sun is a 
solid magnetic body, as some believe, revolving like a 
huge dynamo and developing in its photosphere the light 
and heat which we observe, then possibly it may last 
forever as the source of electricity seems to be inexhaus- 
tible. One thing, however, seems sure, and that is that 
our system did not always exist, or, in other words, that 

58 



it had a beginning, but when that beginning was is a 
question about which science itself does not seem to be 
much concerned. As to how long this system shall last 
is a question in which science seems to take more in- 
terest, for there is evidence of wearing out and cool- 
ing off, and even the death of some planets is noted, as 
the moon, for instance, hence it is probable at least that 
this may be the fate of all the solar system in the great 
future. At that time life on the earth as we now know it 
could not exist as the earth would become a cold, dark, 
frozen globe. That there will come a time when there 
shall be a new heavens and a new earth, literally as is in- 
dicated in the Sacred Writings, no one perhaps is author- 
ized to say. So much, then, may be said in reference to 
the origin of the universe and as to its destiny. 



» 



59 



CHAPTER V. 



ASTROLOGY AND ASTRONOMY 

Astrology professes to foretell and explain the events 
of human life, by the position, aspects and influ- 
ence of the stars and planets. 

It is supposed to have originated with the Chaldeans. 
After the Babylonian captivity some of the Jews were be- 
lievers in it and it has prevailed to some extent among 
all the nations of Europe. In ancient Rome during the 
Empire, astrologers were a numerous and influential 
class. 

In the Middle Ages, when astronomy proper began, 
it was then studied as subsidiary to astrology, and they 
stand related to each other like alchemy and chemistry. 
It was not until the time of Copernicus, that astronomy 
really gained an ascendency over astrology and from that 
time astrology has been discredited by most scientific 
men. 

It is but natural that astrology should have been popu- 
lar. The evident influence of the sun, affecting fertility, 
growth and health, connected with the worship of the 
planets as divinities, besides the notion of Aristotle and 
others, that these heavenly bodies had souls and moved 
on in their orbits not by a mere force or law, but by 
their own conscious volition, all combined to popular- 
ize astrology. Out of these ensouled spheres they sup- 
posed flowed wonderful influences, affecting the life and 
destiny of men. 

These indications and influences were supposed to be 
shown in the relative positions of the sun, stars and 
planets, especially at the time of birth, and these followed 
them through life. 

61 



To facilitate these observations, they divided the 
heavens into twelve equal parts, which they called the 
houses. The first house was called the house of life, the 
second of riches, the third of brothers, the fourth of par- 
ents, the fifth of children, the sixth of health, the seventh 
of marriage, the eighth of death, the ninth of religion, 
the tenth of dignities, the eleventh of friends and the 
twelfth of enemies. Each one of these houses had one 
of the heavenly bodies as its special lord. The first house 
or sign began at the vernal equinox, and they counted 
from the west to the east. So it was the prevailing be- 
lief of those early times that the stars ruled the destin- 
ies of man. The Roman Emperor, Tiberius, practiced 
astrology ; and Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine (B. 
C. 470), placed this among the most important branches 
of knowledge for a physician. Astrology had also a 
peculiar fascination for the Arabians. And the Moors in 
Seville, Spain, erected the first observatory in Europe in 
1 196, and they determined fortune and destiny by draw- 
ing up a Horoscope, which gave the position of the sun, 
moon and planets at the birth of the individual or at the 
beginning of the enterprise, and it was a complete and 
complicated system. If Venus was our star this foretold 
love ; if Mars, then war ; if the Pleiades then look out for 
a storm at sea. 

It was not the ignorant alone who believed in this su- 
perstition, but many of the wisest of those times, as Lord 
Bacon, for instance. Kepler published a book in 1602 on 
planetary influence. And as late as Charles II., Lilly, an 
astrologer, was called before the House of Commons to 
give his professional opinion as an astrologer, of some en- 
terprise under consideration. Indeed there are some in 
modern times, who seem to believe in astrology, to some 
extent at least. We still talk of the star of Empire, the 
star of destiny, etc., but "the fault, dear Brutus, is not in 
our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings." 

Astronomy 

Astronomy naturally followed astrology; indeed we 
may say that astronomy is astrology perfected and freed 
from its superstitions. In their history they have never 

62 



been found separated, are not so entirely now, as we still 
talk of lunacy and other forms of disease more or less 
affected by the sun or moon ; and also the right time of 
the moon to plant and sow and build and cut your hair 
and pare your nails, etc. But astrology reached its cli- 
max during the Middle Ages, and from that time on it 
receded and astronomy came into view. 

The Chinese boast of the antiquity of their astronomi- 
cal records, and perhaps their boast has a good founda- 
tion. They claim to have a record of the conjunction of 
four planets and the moon, which occurred in the twenty- 
fifth century B. C. They give the first account of an 
eclipse of the sun, which occurred 2122 B. C. And it is 
said that one of the emperors put to death two of his chief 
astronomers, Ho and Hi, for failing to announce the 
eclipse of the sun, which occurred 2169 B. C. 

The Chaldean shepherds and priests were astronomers 
and even the temples were used as observatories. Baby- 
lon and Nineveh were great astronomical centers. In 
the ruins of the latter have been found records which 
archaeologists think date back as far as 2540 B. C. When 
Alexander captured Babylon, he found a good library, 
a part of which was oh astronomy, dating back nineteen 
centuries. 

It is to Greece, however, we must look for classified 
astronomy, and to Thales (B. C. 6.40)., one of its seven 
sages, as the Father of Astronomy. He taught in op- 
position to many of the Asiatics, the rotundity of the 
earth ; that the moon derived her light from the sun ; he 
determined the equinoxes and the solstices, and predict- 
ed an eclipse of the sun, which when it came, so frighten- 
ed the Medes and Lydians, then engaged in war, that 
they threw down their arms and instantly made peace. 

The sun dial was invented by Anaximander (B. C. 610) ; 
and he also explained the cause of the moon's phases. 
Pythagoras (B. C. 570) founded a school at Crotona, It- 
aly, where he had hundreds of enthusiastic astronomical 
pupils, but his school seems not to have had much per- 
manent influence. He had in the main correct ideas, but 
lacked proof of his positions. He believed that the plan- 
ets were placed at intervals in their spheres from the 

63 



sun corresponding to the scale in music, and he was real- 
ly the first to speak of the "music of the spheres/' which 
music, however, was too fine for our ears, and could only 
be heard by the gods. He believed the planets inhabited 
and attempted to calculate the size of the animals in the 
moon. Anaxagoras (B. C. 500) rejected sun-worship, be- 
lieving that there was one true God and that the sun was 
a globe of fire. Rejecting chance, he attempted to ex- 
plain eclipses and all celestial phenomena, by natural 
causes, and because of his opinions, he and his family 
were doomed to perpetual banishment. 

Eudoxus (B. C. 400) taught that the heavenly bodies 
are set like gems in hollow crystal spheres, so pure that 
we can look through them as transparent bodies, but that 
the planets are placed in one globe and that a subordin- 
ate deity resides in each one, ruling and controlling it, 
much as Aristotle taught. Eudoxus then is the author 
of the idea of the Crystal Spheres, so popular with the 
poets. 

Hipparchus (B. C. 200) was the most celebrated of the 
Greek astronomers and has been called the Newton of 
antiquity. He calculated the precession of the equi- 
noxes, and discovered the length of the solar year to 
within six minutes, and made the first catalogue of the 
stars numbering 1080. The later Grecian astronomers 
and philosophers before aspiring to the rank of teacher, 
traveled some of them for years, through Chaldea and 
Egypt, studying in the great schools of those countries. 

Pythagoras is reported to have spent thirty years in 
this manner. 

Two hundred years after Pythagoras, or about 275 B. 
C, the great school at Alexandria was established. It 
was patronized by wealthy kings and was considered the 
center of the arts and sciences of those days. Here Ptol- 
emy, a Grecian by birth (A. D. 70), wrote his Almagest 
which, for fourteen centuries, was the text book for as- 
tronomers. In this work was contained the famous 
Ptolemaic System, founded largely on the discoveries of 
Hipparchus and Erastosthenes, who had computed the 
size of the earth by the measurement of an arc of the 
meridian. In a word, it was a theory of "Cycles and 

64 



Epicycles," viz., that the earth was a fixed center, around 
which the Sun and all the planets revolved in circular or- 
bits. And by a system of bars which held them to the 
earth and a system of cranks which moved them on their 
axes, they were kept flying around the earth. The sys- 
tem at last became so complex with bars and cranks that 
a celebrated patron of astronomy, Alfonso, of Castile, 
Spain, exclaimed, "If I had been consulted at the Crea- 
tion, I could have done the thing better than that." 

After the destruction of the Alexandrian Library in 
642 A. D., Bagdad on the Tigris, and Cordova in Spain, 
became great centers of science, literature and art. Pope 
Sylvester II. learned the elements of astronomy at Cor- 
dova, then the capital of Spain. But with the downfall 
of the Moors (1492), who were chiefly Arabians and hence 
Mohammedans, and what is known as the Revival of 
Learning in Europe, art, science and literature, declined 
in Spain and we must hereafter look to other centers for 
scientific knowledge. 

We are to look next at Nicolas Copernicus, a Polander, 
born of German parents, at Thorn, Poland, February 19, 
1473. He was educated at the University of Cracow, 
then the capital of Poland. He taught cautiously, for 
fear of the persecution of the church, the diurual and an- 
nual motion of the earth. He chose in proof of planetary 
motion, how objects seem to flit by us, when we are in 
motion. For forty years he conducted his observations 
in the upper room of an humble farm house, through the 
roof of which he had an unobstructed view of the sky. 
The first copy of his work, entitled "Concerning the 
Revolution of the Celestial Orbs," came from the press 
just in time to be laid upon his death bed, June 11, 1543. 
And although he dedicated his work to the Pope, yet he 
and the whole church and astronomers generally, con- 
demned his conclusions, so firmly and universally had the 
Ptolemaic system been established. His theory was only 
a modification of the Ptolemaic system, as he accepted 
the cycles and epicycles, contending, however, that the 
earth and all the planets moved around the sun. 

Tycho Brahe, a celebrated Danish astronomer, was 
born 1546 at Knudstrup, Denmark. King Frederick II 

65 



gave him the island of Huena, where he erected the finest 
observatory then in Europe. He was educated in the 
universities of Copenhagen and Leipsic. He rejected 
the theory of cycles, but contended that all the heavenly 
bodies revolved about the earth in circles. He cata- 
logued JJ7 stars and made a number of astronomical in- 
struments. After much persecution he returned to Ger- 
many in 1579, and finally died in Prague, October 13, 
1601. 

John Kepler, born at Magstatt, near Weil, Wurtem- 
burg, December 27, 1571, became a pupil or rather as- 
sistant of Brahe at Benach, near Prague, in September, 
1601, only a month before the death of Brahe. He very 
naturally succeeded the venerable astronomer in his im- 
portant work. His early life was full of what are called 
misfortunes. His mother, the daughter of an innkeeper, 
could not read or write. His father was a soldier and 
enlisting in a war against the Turks, was never heard of 
again. His mother proving to be severe, he went to live 
with his sister who had married a minister, and showing 
aptness for learning was sent to the University at Tu- 
bingen to prepare for the ministry, where he took his de- 
gree in 1 591 at the age of 20. His thesis on that occas- 
ion being of a too liberal turn for the faculty of that in- 
stitution, he at once abandoned thoughts of the ministry, 
and devoted himself to the study of the astronomical the- 
ories of Copernicus. 

He was soon appointed professor of mathematics at 
the University of Gratz. Kepler's life was full of storm. 
At advanced life his mother was on trial for five years for 
being a witch, and was at last only saved from the flames 
by the personal appeal of this son to the grand duke. 
Pie was appointed royal astronomer at the University of 
Linz in 1613, and here the priests denounced him as a 
heretic because he opposed the Ptolemaic theory and was 
also denounced as the son of a witch. But during all 
these trials he finally worked out what are known as the 
famous Kepler laws of planetary motion. In 1629 he 
moved to Sagan in Silesia and became professor in Ros- 
tock University, but finally died in Ratisbon, November 

66 



15, 1630. He had published 33 volumes and left in MS. 
22 volumes more, the most of which have since been pub- 
lished. 

In his work announcing his three laws he says, "the 
book may well wait a century for a reader, since God has 
waited 6000 years for an observer.''' 

In connection with his acceptance of astrology, Kep- 
ler also accepted the Pythagorean theory of the Music 
of the Spheres. He made Saturn and Jupiter take the 
bass, Mars the tenor, Earth and Venus second or alto, 
and Mercury the soprano. 

Galileo was born at Pisa, February 14, 1564, being 
seven years younger than Kepler. Unlike Kepler, he 
had much in earlier life to encourage him. He was at 
first a believer in the Ptolemaic system. It was while he 
was professor at the University of Pisa, where he had 
made so many experiments in physics, he changed his 
mind and adopted the Copernican theory. He soon after 
learned that a Dutch watchmaker, by the name of Jansen, 
had invented a contrivance for making distant objects 
appear near. He readily caught the idea and soon had 
a rude telescope constructed out of a lead pipe with a 
lens at each end. It was the revelation of this telescope 
which brought upon his head the cruel storm of persecu- 
tion. 

It should be remembered that not only Catholics, but 
Luther and Melanchthon as well, wrote against the Co- 
pernican theory, as being contrary to the Bible. Galileo 
had to flee from Pisa, but was kindly received at Padua. 
He was on friendly terms with the Pope, Urban VIII, 
but by the influence of enemies he was twice summoned 
to Rome to answer the charge of being a heretic. Twice 
he responded and the last time the Pope turned him over 
to the Sacred College to do as they thought best. There 
in secret, June 22, 1633, in his seventieth year, on his 
knees, clad only in a shirt of black sack-cloth and under 
the torture of the cruel rack, as I believe, as the vacancy 
in the Roman Church records in this place is proof, he 
was forced to abjure his faith in the annual revolution of 
the earth, yet in a suppressed whisper, perhaps the re- 
sult of physical exhaustion, he says, "Still, it does move." 

67 



He was then sentenced to imprisonment at the will of 
the Pope, but who allowed him to retire to his little 
town, Arcetri, on the Florentine hills, where he continu- 
ed his studies, but he soon lost his sight, perhaps the re- 
sult of his torture. He died January 9, 1642, aged 78, 
the year of the birth of Isaac Newton. 

Isaac Newton was born in Woolstrop, Lincolnshire, 
England, December 25th, 1642. His early genius for me- 
chanics was soon manifest in the making of many curi- 
ous toys. It was in the summer of 1666, when he was 24 
years of age, when he had returned to his home because 
of the prevalence of the plague in Cambridge, that he is 
supposed to have observed the falling apple, which led to 
the study of gravity and finally to the law of universal 
gravitation, as it will be remembered that Galileo had 
already developed the laws of falling bodies. His dis- 
coveries are too numerous and important to be men- 
tioned so briefly here. He died in London, March 20, 1727, 
and was buried in Westminster Abbey. 

From the time of Newton until the present there has 
been nothing essentially new discovered in astronomy. 
A number of planets and comets have been discovered, 
but these are all found to conform to the general laws 
already known. Many eminent astronomers have re- 
cently appeared both in Europe and America, and the 
greatest advances have been in instrumental appliances, 
particularly in telescopes and photography. 

It is in the science of Astronomy that skeptical philos- 
ophers have supposed they have found the more numer- 
ous and irreconcilable contradictions to the great truths 
of Christianity, and herein they have indulged in the most 
unbecoming self-gratulations, and herein also they have 
considered themselves triumphant. From their self- 
poised pedestals they have looked down upon the sup- 
posed imbecility of Bible language, and many Christians 
have grown nervous under their assumed intelligent gaze. 
In their oracular manner they tell us that the Bible speaks 
of the earth at one time as an immense disc supported by 
huge pillars, and these planted upon immovable founda- 
tions. At another time it speaks as if there were a vast 
subterranean ocean. Now, it is said, that these and like 

68 



statements are unscientific and contrary to the modern 
discoveries in astronomy and geography. And while not 
claiming scientific accuracy in the Biblical language used, 
yet it should be mentioned that the Hebrew ideal was far 
in advance of the contemporaneous and philosophical 
teaching of the heathen world. They were far from 
unanimity in theory upon the shape of the earth. They 
sometimes spoke of it as an oblong square or parallelo- 
gram ; at others as a cube ; at others still as a pyramid. 
Now it will be very readily noticed that these descrip- 
tions are ludicrous in the extreme, and have not even the 
support of the appearance of things. And it will be as 
readily observed that the Biblical description is of that 
lofty poetic and sublime kind, and while lacking in ac- 
curacy of scientific verbiage, it is at least supported by 
natural phenomena. Thus the Bible, while not a scienti- 
fic work, according to philosophical technics, is seen to be 
in advance of the science of the day in which it was writ- 
ten. And had it been written in such scientific language 
as to meet the requirements of modern scientists, it 
would not only have been foreign to the great design of 
a revelation, but more, it would have been unintelligible 
to the people for thousands of years. And had Revela- 
tion paused to explain these things to the comprehen- 
sion of the people, it would have been liable not only to 
universal rejection by the people, but it would have been 
largely a text book in natural science instead of a guide 
book to eternal life. It is best, then, as it is, since in 
its language on science it could not thus, at the same 
time, be adapted to ancient and modern times. Who, 
then, would fault the Bible as you might fault a strictly 
scientific work when only, incidentally speaking of nature, 
it speaks in the language of the people and according to 
natural phenomena? 

Again from Bible language it is said we would infer 
that the earth is a geocentric and stationary center, 
around which all the astronomical heaven revolves. That 
the earth is stationary, and that all the sidereal heavens 
revolve around the earth was the uniform belief of an- 
tiquity and was formed into a system of supposed con- 
centric circles by the Ptolemies, and this remained the 

69 



scientific belief until the time of Copernicus during the 
Reformation in Germany. As Protestants we may have 
been too severe in our criticisms on the Roman Church, 
for so zealously clinging to the Ptolemaic theory and 
forcing the recantation of Gallileo. Whatever may be 
said of the treatment of Gallileo, we must not forget that 
Melanchthon, the Reformer, and friend of Luther, repudi- 
ated the Copernican theory as much as did the Roman- 
ists, and even down to a late day two eminent Protest- 
ant Professors of theology have published quite exten- 
sive works founded, as they say, upon reason and 
Scripture, to prove that the earth is stationary, and that 
all other of the heavenly bodies revolve around it. Of 
course these two men, Francis Turretin and Dr. Frans, 
are in great error, as well as were the Catholics and 
Melanchthon. Now it is susceptible of clearest proof that 
the Bible, so far as it refers at all to this matter, was in 
many important respects in advance of the astronomical 
teaching of the times in which the different books were 
written. It is a known matter that astrology is the pa- 
rent or ancestor of astronomy, and astrology taught the 
connection of human weal or woe with certain relations 
or motions, or appearances of the stars, and it taught the 
people to worship the stars. The Bible very early inter- 
dicted these things, as may be seen by reference to 
Deuteronomy. It is true that it teaches a high and holy 
contemplation of the heavens as the handiwork of God, 
but it never teaches their adoration and worship. In 
this, as in the former case, it speaks of things as they 
appeared to men. It speaks of the sun setting, and so 
do we at this day. And why do we continue this un- 
scientific mode of speech? Is it not misleading to the 
uninstructed and the young? Must they not be set 
aright after awhile? And why do our scientific men con- 
tinue to furnish these misleading phrases for our al- 
manacs to go into every family? How could, or would 
they remedy the evil, if evil it be? Suppose one should 
determine to do so. In the place of the words, "Bun 
rises" at such a time, we read, "November 2nd, the earth 
in its annual motion in its orbit around the sun, which 
also has its annual motion in its own orbit, will have ar- 

70 



rived at such a point as that by its diurnal motion the sun 
will become visible to the inhabitants of Pittsburgh at 6 
o'clock and 30 minutes, if the weather isn't cloudy ! How 
strange that sounds beside the simple phrases, the sun 
rises and the sun sets. 



The Sun 

There is no more important object in the heavens than 
the sun. It has been so regarded by all nations. It has 
been so highly revered as to be worshiped by some tribes 
and nations. It is therefore no wonder that it has been 
most closely watched in its influence and power upon the 
earth. It has not only been thus carefully observed by 
the ancients, but it is an object of the most critical ob- 
servation by astronomers of this age. One of the most 
marvelous things is its distance from the earth. It is 
easy to say that its distance is about 93,000,000 miles, 
but it is not possible for the human mind to grasp the 
meaning of these figures. The distance is beyond all 
computation by actual measurement. A great many 
comparisons have been instituted, but all of them fail to 
give us anything like a fair understanding of this im- 
mense number. If there were air to convey the sound 
from the sun to the earth it would require over fourteen 
years for it to reach us. An express train traveling day 
and night, at the rate of thirty miles an hour, would re- 
quire 352 years to reach the sun. Ten generations would 
be born and would die, the young men would become 
gray haired and their great grandchildren would forget 
the story of the beginning of that wonderful journey and 
the eleventh generation would see the end of the jour- 
ney. If a babe were born with an arm long enough to 
reach the sun, the infant would grow to manhood and to 
old age and finally die, before the sensation could reach 
the brain, after having touched the sun with the tip of 
its finger. Of course it is not possible for us to make 
anything like a reasonable estimate of this distance, and 
this distance is not certain, although it is certain that 
it cannot be any less than what we have stated, and it 
may be much farther off. 

71 



The light of the sun is equal to 500,563 wax candles 
held at a distance of one foot from the eye. It would re- 
quire 600,000 full moons to produce a day as brilliant as 
one of cloudless sunshine. The amount of heat which is 
imparted from the sun annually would melt a layer of 
ice 110 feet thick, covering the whole earth. Some have 
made estimates which have run as high as 180 feet. It 
should be remembered also that this light and heat 
stream off in all directions from this orb and that only 
about 123 hundred millionth part reaches the earth. One 
can see then how vast must be this source of heat and 
light. To produce this amount of heat by the burning 
of coal, for instance, it would require a layer 16 feet in 
thickness, extending over the whole globe, to feed the 
flame a single hour. Were the sun then a solid body of 
coal it would burn up at this rate in 46 centuries. Sir 
John Herschell said that if a solid cylinder of ice 45 miles 
in diameter and 200,000 miles long were plunged end 
first into the sun, it would melt in a second of time. The 
sun appears to be a little over half a degree in diameter. 
It seems a trifle larger to us in the winter than in the 
summer, and it is at this time three million miles nearer 
the earth. Its diameter is about 866,000 miles. Some 
of the ancients made guesses at least as to the size and 
distance of the sun. Pythagoras estimated the sun's di- 
ameter at 75 miles, and its distance 44,000 miles. Its 
volume is 8,300,000 times that of the earth. Its mass is 
750 times that of all the planets and satillites of the solar 
system, and is 330,000 times that of the earth. The 
density of the sun is only about one-fourth that of the 
earth, or one and four-tenths that of water, so that the 
weight of a body transferred from the earth to the sun 
would not be increased to the proportion of the compara- 
tive size of the two. However, a man weighing at the 
earth's equator 150 pounds, at the sun's equator would 
weigh about two tons. At the earth's equator a stone 
falls 16 feet the first second, at the sun's equator it would 
fall 444 feet. 

72 



The Sun Spots 

As early as 1607 A. D., these spots were observed, al- 
though the telescope was not invented until 1610. The 
number of these spots greatly vary. They are not really 
spots on the sun, but are mere openings on the luminous 
sphere which surrounds the sun, allowing us to look in 
upon the dark body of the sun. As many as two hun- 
dred of these spots have been noticed at one time, and 
they are mostly observed near the sun's equator. Some 
of them are of immense size, perhaps from 30 to 50 miles 
in diameter. Some of these estimates have run up to 
twice this number. They consist of all shapes and ap- 
pearances, and seem to have no settled measurements 
whatever. 

When these spots have been most numerous magnetic 
disturbances or storms on the earth have been most num- 
erous. There was this coincidence, at the Aurora Borealis, 
in 1859 an d I 8^3. It has long been supposed that the 
temperature and consequently the fruitfulness of the 
earth have been effected by the appearance of these spots. 
I believe it was Herschell who first advanced the idea 
that a year of plentiful spots would be a year of plentiful 
harvest, this, however, is not accepted by astronomers 
generally. It would seem rather that the temperature of 
the earth would be lower whenever the spots should be 
most numerous. It seems most evident that no heat will 
come from these spots to the earth. As to the actual 
constitution of the sun there are many theories. That it 
is a fiery mass is not now generally believed. Perhaps 
the most recent opinion is that the sun is a dark solid 
body, and that it is surrounded by a sphere of light and 
heat, and that this light and heat are evolved perhaps by 
the reflection of the sun, much as light and heat are 
evolved by the revolutions of a dynamo. It has now come 
to be generally accepted that the sun is the source of 
all electrical power. The first sphere surrounding the 
sun is a continuous cloudy covering possessing all the re- 
flecting power, the second is called the photosphere, and 
it consists of a highly luminous gas, and is really the 
source of light and heat which we receive. As to the 
continuance of the sun there are differences of opinion. 

73 



Some have stated that the solar heat is gradually being 
extinguished from the fact that the sun is constantly 
shrinking in size. One astronomer estimated that in 
5,000,000 years the sun will have shrunk to half its pres- 
ent size, and at this rate it cannot sustain life on the earth 
more than 10,000,000 years longer. Others contend that 
as a vast furnace, it is constantly fed by the vast volume 
of gases surrounding it. How can any one think of its 
majesty, power and utility without thinking of David, 
who said, "The Lord God is a sun and shield" ; or of 
Christ who said, "Then shall the righteous shine as the 



sun/' 



The Planets 

The name planet signifies a wanderer because it never 
seems to be stationary in the heavens like the fixed stars. 
The planets are never put down upon the charts of the 
heavens because they are never found in the same place, 
and they are not reckoned in the constellations. They 
have always been observed with intense interest. There 
are some features about the planets, however, that is 
characteristic of them all. 

First : They all move in the same direction around the 
sun, and their motion is contrary to the movements of 
the hands of a watch. 

Second : They move in orbits which are nearly circu- 
lar. 

Third : These orbits are more or less inclined to the 
ecliptic and intersected at two points called the nodes. 

Fourth : They are opaque bodies and shine by the 
light from the sun. They rotate upon their axes in the 
same way as the earth, hence they all have the alterna- 
tion of day and night. They move faster in their orbits 
when nearest the sun. These planets are divided into 
two general classes, with reference to the orbit of the 
earth. All of those moving within the orbit of the earth 
are called inferior planets and all those moving in or- 
bits outside of the earth are called superior planets. 
When any two of these planets are in a line with the sun 

74 



they are in conjunction. Whenever it is below the sun 
it is in inferior conjunction, and when it is above the 
sun or beyond it is said to be in superior conjunction. 
The comparative size of the planets as well as their dis- 
tance may be represented as follows: Place a globe two 
feet in diameter on a level surface, this will represent the 
sun. Next to it coming out from the sun will be Vul- 
can, a planet about which not very much is known. Its 
size may be represented by a small pin head and a dis- 
tance of 2J feet from the center of the sun. Next Mer- 
cury may be represented by a mustard seed at a distance 
of 82 feet; Venus by a pea, distance 142 feet. The 
Earth also by a pea, distance 215 feet; Mars by a small 
grain of pepper, distance 327 feet. The minor planets, 
or asteroids, as they are sometimes called may be repre- 
sented by grains of sand at distances varying from 500 
to 600 feet. Next a moderate sized orange may repre- 
sent Jupiter, distance one-fourth of a mile. A smaller 
orange will represent Saturn, distance two-fifths of a 
mile. A full sized cherry may represent Uranus three- 
fourths of a mile distance, and lastly a plum to represent 
Neptune one and one-fourth miles. To represent the 
motion of these planets in their orbits we may indicate as 
follows : The distance moved in each day along its orbit 
would be Vulcan, four and two-third feet; the Earth one 
and seven-eighth feet ; Mercury, three feet ; Venus, two 
feet; Mars, one and one-half feet; Jupiter, ten and one- 
half inches ; Saturn, seven and one-half inches ; Uranus, 
five inches, and Neptune four inches. As to their den- 
sity some of them may be represented as follows : The 
Earth, Venus and Mars are near the same, that is, about 
five times the density of water. Mercury would be repre- 
sented by a gold ball; Jupiter, by the density of lignum- 
vitae; Uranus and Neptune a lighter kind of wood, and 
Saturn would be represented by cork. A more interest- 
ing account concerning the planets as they are, is possi- 
bly desired. Thus the question which very naturally 
arises and has been the subject of much speculation in 
all ages, the answer to which, however, can only be ob- 
tained in a general way may be said what could be the ob- 
ject of the creation of all these planets unless they were in- 

75 



tended to be the abodes of live beings existing perhaps in 
a somewhat different form from human beings as we now 
know them. It is quite certain that these planets differ in 
the amount of light and heat which they receive from the 
sun, and as we have seen greatly differ in their density 
and hence if inhabited the character of the beings living 
upon them must correspond to the nature of the place in 
which they live. It is well understood that the planets 
differ in light and heat from seven times our usual tem- 
perature to less than one one-thousandth; second in the 
force of gravity from two and one-half times that of our 
Earth to less than one-half; third in the constitution of 
the planets* they differ in the density from one-fifth 
heavier from that of the Earth to nearly that of cork. 

It seems to me well nigh impossible to explore the 
heavens without saying of them as David did : "Thy 
heavens and the work of thy fingers, the moon and the 
stars which thou hast ordained." 

All devout astronomers will adopt the following state- 
ment by Prof. Steele : "A feeling of awe and reverence, 
of softened melancholy mingled with a thought of God, 
comes over us and awakens the better nature within us." 
And so Mitchel closed his work on astronomy by saying, 
"It carries us back to that grand epoch when in the be- 
ginning God created the heaven and the earth." 



* 



76 



CHAPTER VI. 



GEOLOGY AND EARTH BUILDING 

In geology the contest was once very sharp and to 
many seemed to be somewhat hazardous to the cause of 
Christianity. Geologists triumphantly told us that the 
facts of geological science make it almost certain that the 
earth is much older than the Bible chronology makes it, 
and we must admit that up to the time of modern geol- 
ogy it was the generally received opinion of the Chris- 
tian world that the earth was only about six thousand 
years old. That staunch and generally clear-minded 
Scotch divine, Dr. Chalmers, was the first to an- 
nounce that the Bible nowhere definitely fixes the age 
of the earth, it simply refers to the time of man's ex- 
istence upon it, and this is the indisputable fact. This 
same divine also said that between the first and follow- 
ing verses of Genesis was room for a period of suffici- 
ent length to acount for all the facts of the various geo- 
logical formations. And this, in the main, is the received 
opinion of the Christian world, and this has quieted the 
church and checkmated the vain-glorying of skeptical 
geologists. 

Upon the subject of the deluge there has been some 
supposed contradiction between the teachings of the 
Bible and this science. Geologists differ among them- 
selves as to the extent of the deluge, some saying it 
was local, and others that it was universal. We believe, 
however, that the most recent and reliable of them teach 
the local notion of the flood, and we believe, moreover, 
that the most recent and reliable Bible expositors teach 
that the flood was local as to the earth, but universal as to 

77 



man, and with this view it is not difficult to harmonize 
science and the Bible. And we may say that intelligent 
skeptical scientists have pretty generally abandoned the 
hope that in the domain of geology they will ever dis- 
cover any material discrepancy between Bible teachings 
and geological facts. But as they leave the vanquished 
field they fling back the taunting words that, "you so 
often change your interpretation of the Bible." To this 
we answer that interpretation is not infallible and in- 
spired, and we do emphatically deny that in this change 
we have ever contravened any great moral truth of Rev- 
elation, and besides this, such a criticism comes with ill 
grace from them, since perhaps no class of scientific men 
have so much and so often differed among themselves, 
and have so often reversed former conclusions, as ge- 
ologists. 

Geology is the science which treats of the structure of 
the earth, its strata and development. In later years it 
has been discussed under two general divisions, viz., cos- 
mogony and palaeontology. Cosmogony proper treats 
of the origin of the earth ; palaeontology treats of the 
structural formation of the earth, the plants and animals 
found in the different strata, and the different causes 
which have produced the various changes in the history 
of the earth. 

The oldest heathen cosmogonies are found in India, but 
the first authentic account is given by Hesiod, and is in 
verse. 

The Ionic philosophers were the first prose writers on 
this subject. There are many fabulous theories which 
have no real value and are nothing more than mere curi- 
osities of opinion. The different theories worthy of con- 
sideration are the following: 

The world has existed from eternity under its present 
form, as has also all animate and inanimate nature. It 
is enough to say that this theory is not now held by any 
considerable number of scientific men. It was, however, 
embraced by Aristotle. 

Again, the matter of the universe is eternal, but not 
its form. This was the teaching of Epicurus, and most 
of the ancient materialistic philosophers. They say that 

78 



by some chance the world sprang out of the union of 
atoms or chaos, which preceded its present form, and in 
some form or other, this is the teaching of modern ma- 
terialistic philosophy, and all of such theories make the 
world self-originative, i. e., originated without a cause 
which is a contradiction. 

Again, the matter of the world and its form are both 
caused by a Divine being, the Creator. It is admitted 
that the account in Genesis is very ancient, and is worthy 
of thoughtful consideration. No one claims it to be writ- 
ten in modern scientific language, but the substance of 
it is generally believed to be correct. 

The first verse teaches the divine creation of matter, 
but nothing is there said of its order, or arrangement, or 
the exact time when it took place. Most geologists be- 
lieve that between the first and the following verses in- 
tervenes a sufficiently long period to account for all the 
geological periods, or ages. 

Again, some think that creative power was exerted at 
the beginning only to bring matter into existence, and 
then matter was left to arrange itself according to the 
laws of matter, such as attraction, specific gravity, etc. 

Others think that divine energy is constantly and di- 
rectly exerted in nature, and these verses in Genesis, 
speaking of the arrangement of matter during certain 
days, mean long geological periods in which this energy 
was exerted with which we may say, the theories of some 
modern geologists concur. 

The primitive condition of the earth is supposed to be 
alluded to in Genesis as being "Without form and void" ; 
"That darkness was upon the face of the deep." From a 
scientific standpoint, it can only be conjectured as to 
what was its first condition, as geologists only study it 
according to its form or strata. 

There was a condition, of course, before this. It is 
agreed that the temperature of the earth increases as we 
proceed towards the center at the rate of one degree Cen- 
tigrade for each ioo feet, hence by a slight effort of the 
imagination it may be inferred that the center is a mol- 
ten mass of matter. It is perhaps true, then, that the 
time was when the whole earth was an incandescent 

79 



globe, with all of its water, and other vaporizable matter, 
in a gaseous state surrounding it. It is believed that the 
crust is about 2,500 miles thick and that it continues to 
thicken as the earth continues to cool. 

We may mention here that there have been some per- 
sons, mostly of a religious character ,who have held that 
the earth was at the fiat of the Creator, at once and fully 
created, with all the fossil plants and animals imbedded in 
the rocks, with all the coal, gold and ores in the earth 
as they now are ! It is true, however, to state that such 
views are not now held by any persons of acknowledged 
scientific ability. 

A late theory is that the earth is now as solid as steel 
at the center and has become so by the laws of specific 
gravity and revolution. Omitting water, the average den- 
sity of materials on the surface is 2.5 ; the mean density 
of the globe is 5.6, and at the center it is 16. 

Some hold to a semi-liquid structure between the solid 
center and the crust of the earth which is the source of 
volcanoes, earthquakes, oil and gas. 

Palaeontology is divided into dynamical, structural and 
historical. Dynamical geology treats of the agencies 
which have affected and modified the structure of the 
earth, and we presume these have been more or less ac- 
tive during all ages. Some authors treat this subject 
under the head of chemical geology, but certainly some 
of the causes are physical and not strictly chemical; as 
atmosphereic agencies causing the disintegration of rocks 
by the action of oxygen and watery vapor. This with the 
exception of a small per cent of vegetable matter is the 
way soils are principally formed, and different soils are 
caused by the disintegration of different kinds of rocks. 

Of course frost and other agencies assist in this work. 
The winds, often from the sea, as from Cape Cod, and 
San Francisco have blown the sand inland,, destroying 
the fertility of the soil. 

This encroachment has been very marked in some in- 
stances as at Suffolk, England, for instance, where it 
has increased at the rate of five miles in 100 years; so 
in Afrjca whole cities have been buried by the Simoon. 
Aqueous agencies, such as rain, rivers, and so on, have 

80 



been very active. Rain absorbed in rocks and soils 
greatly change their condition, and that which passes off 
forms streamlets and rivers which in turn form gulleys, 
ravines, channels and canons. 

The great erosions of rivers forming channels, and 
carrying sediment have produced great changes of the 
earth's structure. It is estimated that the annual deposit 
from the Mississippi River in the Gulf of Mexico is equal 
to one square mile, 263 feet deep. All erosions tend to 
carry down the mountains and fill up the oceans, and thus 
reduce the earth to a plane. All sedimentary deposits 
come from stratified rocks. The erosive effect of waves 
and tides may be seen in marked cases as at Cape May 
where the coast is wearing away at the rate of nine feet 
a year. 

A church situated on the coast of Kent, near the 
mouth of the Thames, in the time of Henry VIII, stood 
one mile inland, but in 1804 the coast had been so eroded 
that a portion of the church fell into the river and it 
was abandoned. Again, ocean currents carried an immense 
quantity of sediment, also glaciers, some of them 40 
miles long, and 300 feet thick, carried immense boulders 
as well as soil down from the northern regions and de- 
posited them towards the equator. 

Igneous agencies have been very active. The other 
two agencies tend to level down the earth ; these tend to 
break up the surface and make it uneven. The mean 
temperature of the earth at the equator is 80 degrees ; 
at the poles it is o, and the mean temperature of the 
whole earth is 58 degrees. The isothermal lines do not 
run parallel to the lines of latitude ; the increase of one 
degree for every 100 feet toward the center will give a 
temperature of 2,500 degrees, 30 miles below the surface 
the heat is intense enough to fuse most rocks, which 
temperature required is about 3,000 degrees F. 

Volcanoes, earthquakes and geysers all tend to break 
up the stratification of the earth and prevent it becoming 
a plain. 

Organic agencies, such as vegetable accumulation, bog- 
iron ore, lime accumulation, such as coral and a wide dis- 

81 



tribution of organisms throughout the world have all 
tended to change greatly the structure of the earth. 

There are many different modes of classification of 
structural geology, one is by eras, the other is by rocks, 
and a third by the extinct life formations. The Eozoic 
era corresponds with what is known in the rock classifi- 
cation with the Huronian and Laurentian. Little or no 
life formations are found here. In the Paleozoic era the 
kind of life found is three fold ; first, invertebrates ; sec- 
ond, fishes ; third, amphibions. The upper layer is the 
carboniferous strata. 

The first invertebrates are found in the Salina, Niagara 
and Trenton rocks, and the fish found in the Catskill, and 
Hamilton kinds of rocks, and the amphibion are found 
in the carboniferous. 

The Mesozoic era is the era of reptiles. The rocks in 
which they are found are cretaceous, Jurassic and trias- 
sic. 

The Cenozoic or Neozoic is the era of mammals, and 
the kind of rocks in which they are found are called ter- 
tiary and quarternary. 

The Psychozoic era is the era of man. 

The Paleozoic means ancient life, where, as we have 
seen are found three kinds of organisms. These surely 
must have been absolutely innumerable for already there 
are discovered over 10,000 different species of shells and 
animals which belong to this age. 

In the Eozoic age we have the dawn of life, during 
which time the great iron-ores of our lake regions, Mis- 
souri and Sweden, the oldest rocks known were depos- 
ited. 

Mesozoic means middle period of life; it is the age of 
reptiles where the numerous reptile and bird tracks are 
found in rocks, and the remains of birds and animals of 
immense size. 

Cenozoic or Neozoic means recent life, and here prop- 
erly the modern history of the globe begins. During this 
age very great changes of the surface took place; all the 
upheavals of continents and volcanic changes have taken 
place in the tertiary formation and the rise of the West- 
ern Continent was during this period. Mammals now 

82 



distinctly appear, and it is an interesting geological fact 
that both the horse and the camel originated on the 
Western Continent. There are about thirty-five species 
of the horse, and the first geological horse was no larger 
than the fox ; it had three toes on the hind foot and four 
on the fore foot. 

This is also the great glacial period during which ex- 
isted mammoths and behemoths and other immense land 
animals. 

The Psychozoic is the era of soul life, and includes the 
stone age, the bronze age and the iron age. Man's ap- 
pearance on the earth is comparatively recent as compar- 
ed with the geological periods. 



3> 



83 



CHAPTER VII 



BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION 

Biology is that science which treats of living organiz- 
ed substances or beings, and popularly it is the science 
of life. It treats of organized bodies in contrast with 
unorganized bodies, or mineralogy, the science of min- 
eral substances. It is divided into two general branches, 
viz., botany and zoology. Botany is the science of 
plants, living and extinct. Zoology is the science of ani- 
mals, living and extinct. In certain important features, 
plants and animals agree with each other, and in these 
same points they differ from minerals. Their primitive 
conditions and chemical constituents are the same, and 
substantially, all vegetable and animal life starts from 
cells, and these primitive cells are mainly oxygen, hydro- 
gen, nitrogen and carbon ; three of these are gases and 
only one, the last, a solid. 

This first cell, or rather its contents, have been named 
by some biologists protoplasm, which is the first form of 
life, and while some minerals are composed of some of 
the above elements, yet they have no cellular organiza- 
tion. Plants and animals multiply and renew these cells. 

This renewal repairs the system, produces growth and 
gives power for work. The tree sheds its leaves and 
casts its ripe fruit, and these may nourish the soil, and 
the soil in turn nourishes the tree that it may grow and 
bring forth more leaves and fruit. 

The mineral wears away, and although it may also in- 
crease in size, it does so by adhesion and accretion, but 
never by nutrition or assimlation. 

85 



Plants and animals have the capabilities of reproduc- 
tion of their kind essentially like those from which they 
came, although with almost endless variety. This great 
fact or law in biology insures, generally, the perpetua- 
tion of the great types of animals and plants. 

You may break a stone into a great number of parts 
but there is no multiplication or re-production of the min- 
eral. 

The existence of the organism for a period of time, 
and this to be followed invariably by dissolution and 
death, is a striking characteristic of plants and animals. 
This life period may be shortened by accident, enemies 
or disease, and this applies alike to both animals and veg- 
etables. No one speaks of the life of a stone or of its 
death; it may, however, undergo many physical and 
chemical changes, but in no case do we speak of its life 
or death. 

While plants and animals thus agree with each other, 
and also thus differ from minerals, it is important to know 
in what they differ from each other. It is not difficult 
to distinguish between the highest forms of animal and 
vegetable life, but this topic properly comes under com- 
parative anatomy. 

There are, however, two distinctions which may be 
named. Plants derive their nourishment by mediation, 
i. e., by absorption from the inorganic world through 
their roots and leaves, the latter taking in carbon and giv- 
ing out oxygen. Animals appropiate nourishment, gen- 
erally, immediately from plants, exhaling carbonic acid, 
inhaling oxygen. The animal either by reason or in- 
stinct is guided in the pursuit and selection of its food. 

It is true that the sunflower will turn its face as if 
welcoming the smile of the morning sun, but the morn- 
ing-glory at the coming of the sun closes its flower. 

The Evolution of Life 

We begin this point by treating first briefly the origin 
of life as shown in the fungus. The fungus is best seen 
in the yeast cells ; and these cells are generally rounded 
or a little oblong and are generally linked together in 

86 



groups. Each one is about three-thousandth of an inch 
in size and is transparent. The sac is composed of cel- 
lulose; the contents of the cell are called protoplasm and 
are composed of water, mineral matter, protein and fats. 

The protein is that which gives life to the cell and is 
composed of C, H., O., N., S. or P. This protein is 
found in all living matter, and resembles the white of an 
Qgg. There are little grains or granules in each cell, 
which are the food on which the protein feeds and grows. 
This cell-jelly and granules are churned up and down and 
then little buds come out around the cells, and by and by, 
these buds break away from the original cell and become 
living independent cells. 

This original cell is called Torula, and the little cells 
are called Torulae, and this is what is called spontaneous 
generation. 

Yeast, like mushroons and toad-stools is a fungus, and 
it is white because it gives off carbonic acid, and this is 
really what makes bread white. All plants that take in 
carbonic acid are green. There are differences between 
the plant cell and the animal cell. 

The protoplasm in the plant cell is shut up in a clos^ 
cellulose sac, but the protoplasm of the animal cell has 
no such sac, but forms a wall or surrounding of its own. 

The plant cell makes its own protein, but the animal 
cell destroys or consumes it. How did the first cell 
start? We know what are the elements of that cell, but 
no chemist can so combine them as to make either a 
plant or animal cell. Shall we not say that the Divine 
Creator made it rather than that Nature is the Mother of 
Nature ! 

Observe next the mold or green plant which is seen on 
the rain trough and on old palings and trees and stone 
walls. These cells are not always green, occasionally 
they are red, but in each case they are composed and 
formed like the Torula. The name given to this cell by 
scientists is protococcus, which literally means first berry. 

Little green grains in the cell give the color, and this 
cell takes in carbonic acid and grows in the sunlight, and 
the cell grows by division. The red snow of the Alps, 
and the Arctic regions is this protococcus, which the anci- 

87 



ents thought was blood sprinkled down from heaven as 
a warning, or a sign of wrath. This will sometimes 
spread so rapidly as to cover hundreds of acres in a very- 
short time. There is also a green snow plant. As we 
all know mold spreads very rapidly, showing its rapid 
growth. Next notice the fresh water hydra. These are 
so named from the serpent supposed to live in Lake 
Lerna, and supposed to have fifty heads, and when Her- 
cules tried to kill it by cutting off each head, then two 
more would grow in its place. So if you take the root 
of duck weed which is about one-half of an inch long, 
and cut it in pieces and place in a glass of water in the 
light, but not in the sun, in a few hours they will cling to 
the side of the glass next to the window. They hold on 
to the glass by one end, and reach out for food in the 
water by the other. Little knobs grow along the side 
and finally separate and become living hydra, each like 
the first, having tentacles, a mouth and a body. 

The human blood cell is called amoebae. A drop of 
blood is composed of a number of reddish looking bodies 
called corpuscles, and a number of larger transparent 
jelly-like bodies. 

The transparent body is a cell which is ever changing, 
and this cell is larger than the yeast cell, being about 
1-2500 of an inch in breadth. It has no wall but itself. 
It has some granules inside a nucleus at the center, and 
this cell when mildly heated will move rapidly among the 
red corpuscles. This human cell is different from other 
animal cells, but it is somewhat difficult to distinguish 
between them. They grow like the mold cells, by divis- 
ion and sub-division, or fission, and when maturity is 
reached, they no longer multiply. Thus we have seen in 
brief, the evolutions of life in the fungus, or white plant, 
the green plant, the hydra and the human cell, each of 
which is composed of water, mineral matter, protein and 
fats. 



88 



General Evolution 

Evolution in general is the doctrine of development 
from the simple to the complex, from the homogeneous 
to the heterogeneous, and it is applied to nature, art, 
science, history and religion. 

In its restricted sense it applies only to biology. 

Let us look first to scientific evolution. Some of the 
ancients more than hinted at the doctrine. An Egyptian 
myth asserts that all material things were developed from 
a chaotic egg. Shales taught that originally the world was 
in a fluid state, and others taught that all nature was 
formed out of atoms. In modern times Leibnitz taught, 
in 1693, the original fluidity of the earth. French, Eng- 
ish and German writers took up the same strain, but Kant 
in 1755, originated the Nebular Hypothesis and La Place, 
and the two Herschels, Sir John and Sir William, elabor- 
ated the doctrine. In biology Wolff, in 1759, and Goethe 
in 1790, taught the transmutation of species. Lord Mon- 
boddo, in 1774, and Lamarck, in 1809, suggested the pos- 
sible organic development of man from an ape. Dr. 
Erasmus Darwin as early as 1794 started the specula- 
tions which have since borne his name, although Charles 
Darwin in a later period gets the credit for these orig- 
inal suggestions. To him is attributed the origin of the 
theory of Natural Selection. 

To Herbert Spencer belongs the origin of the expres- 
sion, "Survival of the Fittest/' but the combination and 
development of the principles as applied to plants, ani- 
mals and man, was chiefly the work of Prof. Charles Dar- 
win, as seen in his published works in 1853 and 1859. 
From this time on many able writers have appeared, until 
it is now generally admitted that, properly speaking, and 
guarded the doctrine of evolution is correct. 

But no subject scarcely needs to be more carefully lim- 
ited and correctly applied. In general, then, it may be 
said that all departments of nature show progress, or de- 
velopment, whether in astronomy, botany or zoology, in 
fact, in both organic and inorganic nature. 

The rudimentary form so well observed in plants and 
animals is a clear and strong proof of the doctrine of de- 
velopment. 



There is also method in the progress generally from the 
simpler to the more complex, and from the lower to the 
higher. 

This progress is often marked by long steps, or grada- 
tions, and is particularly shown in the commonly admit- 
ted classifications, or ages, or periods in geology. It 
must be admitted, however, the paleontology shows most 
conclusively that many species have become extinct, for 
instance, 500 species of trilobites are all now extinct, of 
450 species of the nautilus, only two are now living; of 
the 700 species of ganoids, composing an entire tribe, is 
now nearly extinct. 

But now as representatives of these, and other extinct 
species, we have others evidently developed from them 
which take their place. 

Look next at the evolution of mind and consciousness. 
Darwin, Pope and Chauncy Wright and others have writ- 
ten much on this subject. 

Darwin's great mistake was, as we think, in trying to 
press evolution into every mode of life that came under 
his observation, and hence manyt of his friends could 
not agree with him on the development of the mind of 
man from the instinct of the animal. Hence says Prof. 
Huxley : "That between the highest mind of the highest 
ape and that of man there is an enormous gap, a distance 
practically infinite." Said Prof. Tyndal in 1868, in his 
address before the British Association, "The passage 
from the physics of the brain to corresponding facts of 
consciousness is unthinkable." The soul of man, then, 
is not developed from the instinct of animals. 

Next observe the evolution of man himself. Was man 
at first a savage and by self-effort has he evolved his own 
civilization? Or was he at first somewhat puerile, ig- 
norant, but innocent? Lubbock and Darwin take the 
first position, and the most of religious writers now ac- 
cept the second with some variation of expression. With 
here and there some advances among some nations, re- 
trogression was perhaps the rule with man before the 
Christian era. Self-development has not been the rule 
in history, but rather man has been developed by for- 
eign or outside forces. 



Christianity is the only power that has made in general 
continued progress for so many centuries, and even this 
progress has not been uniform. Evolution proper, does 
not relate to the origin of things. Nature as to its origin 
was instantaneous, and from creative or divine power, and 
its progress has been according to law, but not caused by 
law. There must be a first cause, an evolver before an 
evolution, and that power continues to operate through 
almost endless variations and selections. So we conclude 
there is in theory both an atheistic and theistic evolution. 

Physiology and Life. 

It was in the science of physiology that the contest was 
chiefly going on in later times, but it has changed to psy- 
chology now. Matter was to be the god of modern sci- 
entists, around which such men as Buchner, Huxley, 
Bain, Carpenter, Draper, Youmans and Barker would 
gather and worship. Says Buchner : Force is matter 
and matter is force. Mind is matter, soul is matter ; there 
is nothing but matter. Vital force or life is but the sum 
of all physical forces. So they go on in an endless cir- 
cumlocution, using frequently unknown words to de- 
describe what is to them unknown. One would think that 
in reading such works as those of Prof. Huxley and Her- 
bert Spencer that there had been really a heavy tax laid 
upon all languages in order to find a scientific nomencla- 
ture for the main purpose of appearing to be scientific. 
They dredged all lexicons to find suitable terms to de- 
scribe something they themselves had not yet found, 
and they made a great effort to express in words that 
which is not known to science. They have as yet deter- 
mined nothing. 

The German scientists a few years ago spoke of tjje 
cell theory of the origin of life, and out of it came the 
theory of plasm of the blood, and Huxley caught up the 
idea and named it Protoplasm and announced to 
the world that life had a physical basis. And 
Herbert Spencer and Carpenter announced that 
biology and psychology are but branches of physi- 
ology, and that the physiology of man does not 

91 



differ essentially from the physiology of beasts. And 
now underneath nearly all such intricate speculations we 
must deliberately write, "Not proved," and until they are 
proved we need not be much concerned. We are willing 
to meet science with Revelation, for really here is no an- 
tagonism, but we do not propose to answer the chame- 
leon forms of the skeptical imaginations of modern sci- 
entists. Give us settled conclusions, fair deductions, rea- 
sonable propositions, and we shall be ready for the con- 
test. We do not permit ourselves to be drawn away from 
our safe and cheerful abode by the maneuvers of scientific 
ambuscade. 

The accomplished Renan, seeing, no doubt, the same 
conclusion to which we are arriving said it was not that 
any one science was in conflict with Christianity, but that 
all science rejected the supernatural. How can that be? 
If no one of the parts is in conflict, can the whole, made 
up of these parts be in antagonism This would be a con- 
tradiction, and hence untrue. But if he means that th,e 
spirit and essence of science as such is opposed to the 
supernatural, then we ask is this even certainly true? If 
he means by the supernatural that which is above the sen- 
suous, that which cannot be known by any one of the or- 
dinary senses of the body, then we reply that there are 
many facts received as science which are not attested 
by any sense of the body. And if he means that science 
rejects the presence and interference of the spiritual and 
Divine, then we ask is this an opinion or a settled con- 
clusion of scientists? Is it not the opinion of the few 
while the opposite is the long established conclusion of 
the many, and not the many of the ignorant either, but 
of the wise. Those eminent Christian philosophers, Ra- 
cine and Kepler, Newton and Faraday, and Edison al- 
ways found nature and the supernatural, the human and 
the Divine in sweetest harmony. The God of nature and 
of grace was to them one God. Consciousness should al- 
ways be received as certain evidence as sensuousness, and 
in many cases it is preferable proof. Is not the convic- 
tion of a man's mind and heart as much to be relied on 
for truth as the possible illusions of the eye or the de- 
ceptions of the hand? Self-consciousness is the highest 

92 



and truest knowledge, and humanity will have to be en- 
tirely reconstructed, and that on a different basis, before 
you can eliminate from the consciousness the knowledge 
of the supernatural. We admit that this knowledge rests 
on a somewhat different basis than scientific knowledge 
so called, but it may be as certain and as satisfactory as 
the other. The one need not, does not necessarily ex- 
clude the other. Nature and the supernatural are every- 
where interwoven in the fabric of nature, the superna- 
tural being the golden chain, and nature the variegated 
filling, and God himself is the skillful workman, and as 
the workman deserves more praise than his work, so we 
should not love nature less, but God the more. In con- 
clusion, we would recommend a more careful and 
thorough study of this subject, especially by the Chris- 
tian ministry and Christian students, and by those intend- 
ing to become ministers ; not that we think that they are 
more deficient generally in this respect than many sci- 
entists are deficient of the knowledge of Christianity. 
No, we rather think the greater ignorance lies on the 
other side, and we think it entirely true that ministers 
generally or proportionately know more of science than 
irreligious scientists know of the Bible or Christianity. 

Ministers should study science, not simply for the pur- 
pose of preaching it on proper occasions, but to be able 
to intelligently defend it in print and elsewhere. And 
there is especial need of this when we remember that 
three-fourths of all our public lecturers and contributors 
to various journals and magazines are ministers. Reck- 
less denunciation has reacted to the church's injury, and 
has in former times at least added something to the con- 
viction that it was opposed to scientific learning. And 
by such study we will learn to appreciate more fully the 
objections of scientists, and by so doing we will not 
only be amply rewarded by the knowledge of scientific 
truth, but will also find so many beautiful illustrations of 
divine truth. 

On the other hand, let scientists study Christianity, for 
it is worthy of their loftiest genius and deepest profun- 

93 



dity, and instead of it cramping the mind it will expand 
the soul, and instead of it being a blank forest its rich 
fruitage is hanging from every bough, and instead of it 
being a barren field it is flowering all over with the rose 
of Sharon, and instead of it being a dreary desert its re- 
freshing fountains have made glad the hearts of thou- 
sands of explorers, and at last standing on a mutual plat- 
form high and lifted up, we will both acknowledge that 
the God of nature and the God of Revelation is one God 
over all and blessed for evermore. 



3> 



94 



CHAPTER VIII 



PSYCHOLOGY, OR THE SOUL'S 
POWERS 

The terms psychology, mental philosophy and mental 
science are synonymous. The scope of the subject is 
mind, soul or spirit. 

Mind is not a result of matter or force or both com- 
bined. Mind differs from matter, being self-active, self- 
conscious and has none of the phenomena of matter. Its 
existence is known by intuition, as "I know." It is 
known also by its phenomena. It is derived from the 
Creator. 

Consciousness is the basis of psychology. Man is con- 
scious of the existence of mind. He is conscious of his 
mental states. Consciousness differs from conscience 
the moral faculty. 

The faculties or properties of mind are intellect, sensi- 
bilities and the will. 

Perception is by mind, by the brain or by the senses, 
as the eye, ear, smell, taste, touch. There is also the mem- 
ory, the imagination and the understanding. 

The will is that power of the mind by which we decide 
to do anything, and the act of the will is called a volition. 
There are three essential elements in a completed voli- 
tion. 

The first is the motive, the reason why we put forth 
a volition, and there may be different motives at the 
same time, and the one that moves the volition is called 
the preponderating motive. 

Then choice is the act of selecting one from other 
courses of conduct, or of deciding when only one way is 

95 



before us. Choice is essential to a voluntary and free 
volition, but choice and volition are separate acts or rno- 
tions of the mind. I may make a choice, but not exe- 
cute the volition concerning the choice, and in my mind 
I may choose between two objects, but take neither. 
There are many free and spontaneous actions of the mind 
not governed by choice, such as the intuitions. 

Having made the choice, being influenced by some 
motive, the next act is to execute the choice by the force 
of the will. Thus the will is strictly the executive faculty 
of the mind. 

There are two theories respecting the freedom of the 
will, namely, that all volitions of the normal man are 
either free, or necessitated. First, they are free, be- 
cause we know we could have made some other choice 
and could have taken some other course. Hence there 
follows either approval or disapproval in consequence of 
our own conduct. Second all enforcement of criminal 
law proceeds upon the supposition of the freedom of 
the will. 

Where insanity is pleaded, it means moral inability to 
perform a free and responsible action. 

Hence all duty and obligation hinge on the freedom 
of the will. Hence also enforced volitions imply fatal- 
ism, i.e., we must do as we do. 

The will is the source of all voluntary action, without 
which man would be of little use in the world, except 
as a slave. The achievements of science, the wonderful 
discoveries, military success and great moral reforms 
show the force and power of the human will. To prop- 
erly cultivate this force we should, first, develop a per- 
sonality ; second, learn to conquer obstacles ; third, de- 
cide promptly; fourth, let the decisions of the will be 
firmly fixed in a sense of duty. 

Intuition 

Intuition is that spontaneous power of the mind which 
gives us primary ideas and primary truths.. Hamilton 
names it the regulative faculty. Kant names it the rea- 



son. Scotch philosophers call it common sense. Its 
products are not derived from perception, abstraction or 
conception. 

Space is not a percept but it implies extension which 
is the necessary condition of all matter. Kant and his 
school say it is an ideal conception, a form which we im- 
pose on matter. Space has length, breadth, depth and 
height, and may be measured as in geometry; properly 
considered, however, space is infinite. 

Time is the cognition of succession in events and is 
not a mere idea, but a reality, and properly considered 
it has only one dimension, that of length. 

Identity is difficult of explanation, and for convenience 
we make three divisions of identity. Inorganic identity 
is sameness of structure and material. Strictly speaking 
there is no such thing as absolute identity in matter, as 
it is constantly changing. Commonly speaking, however, 
a knife is the same knife, although it may have had dif- 
ferent blades at different times. A ship is called the 
same ship, although it has many times changed its sails, 
ropes and planks. 

Organic identity is the continuity of the life principle 
under the same general structure and organization. 

Personal identity is that by which we are conscious of 
being the same person, although having passed through 
many changes. 

Personal identity, however, is more of the spirit than 
of the body. 

A cause is that which produces an event. I see wax 
melt, for instance, and I know there must be a cause that 
is heat. 

The intuition of the beautiful is both subjective and ob- 
jective, and only to the mind capable of the emotion is 
anything beautiful, but there must be an object having 
order, proportion, unity and variety or else there will be 
no sense of beauty. One beautiful feather would not 
make a beautiful bird. The beautiful and the useful are 
not necessarily one. Water in a canal is useful, but 
but water in the cascade is beautiful. 

Beauty in man is complex and almost indescribable. 
We speak of physical beauty, but there are some who are 

97 



not physically beautiful, of whom we say they are beau- 
tiful. Hence, " 'tis the stainless soul within, that out- 
shines the fairest skin." 

The sublime is closely related to the beautiful. In the 
sublime there is more of the majestic, the grand, and the 
lofty. A small cascade is beautiful, but Niagara is sub- 
lime. A mound covered with flowers is beautiful, but a 
mountain covered with pine is sublime. 

The sublime has the idea of vastness and power. The 
flash of lightening is beautiful, but the roar of the thun- 
der is sublime. 

The ludicrous means essentially the incongruous and 
generally produces pleasurable emotions such as laugh- 
ter, as a boy with a man's hat on, or a pig in a church. 
A blunder is an incongruity between what was said or 
done from what was meant or intended. An Irishman 
having his face blackened during his sleep, being aroused 
and going on his journey ten miles, stopped at a hotel, 
and looking in a glass, said : "Sure, they've waked up 
the wrong man and left me ten miles behind." 

Wit is a flash, and humor is a gentle and glowing re- 
mark. A pun is a play upon words, or it is the wit of 
words of similar sounds, but dissimilar ideas. 

Satire or sarcasm is literal praise, but real ridicule. 

Burlesque is a form of caricature in language, as seen 
for instance, in Don Quixote. 

The intuition of the true, negatively speaking, stands in 
opposition to that which is false. The ethical intuition 
is universal, as all nations have words to distinguish be- 
tween the good and the evil, the right and the wrong, the 
true and the false. 

This intuition is the foundation of all law and govern- 
ment, it is absolutely original with human nature. It 
exists, however, under almost every shade of clearness 
or obscurity. This intuition may be cleared and improv- 
ed by education. To determine when a thing is right we 
must have a standard expressed or implied, and the ulti- 
mate standard of all ethical intuitions is the will of God 
as expressed in he Bible. This standard therefore is not 
as some suppose, the highest happiness, nor utility, nor 
legal enactments. 

98 



To cultivate the scientific intuitions we should study 
the sciences. To cultivate the aesthetical intuitions we 
should look upon the beautiful and the sublime and read 
and meditate about them. The ethical or moral faculty 
may be cultivated by the love of the truth and of all up- 
right, moral actions, and above all things by a study of 
the Bible. 

The sensibilities are the powers of the soul by which 
we feel. 

Simple emotions are divided into two classes. Intui- 
tive emotions, such as spring up spontaneously in the 
mind, as cheerfulness, and melancholy, and pleasure of 
companionship, sorrow at the loss of friends and sym- 
pathy for others. 

The rational emotions are such as spring up in the 
mind and have a reason for their existence, and these are 
divided into three classes ; first, egoistic, as pride and hu- 
mility; second, the aesthetic, the new and the wonderful, 
the beautiful, the sublime and the ludicrous ; third, the 
ethical emotions are all such as have a moral character, 
the sense of obligation, satisfaction and remorse. 

The affections are those sensibilities which go out 
towards an object. There are two classes ; first, the 
benevolent affections. These are divided into five 
classes — friendship, gratitude, patriotism, philanthropy 
and piety. 

The malevolent affections are, in general, the opposite 
of all benevolent affections, as resentment, envy, jeal- 
ousy and revenge. 

The desires are the feelings of a wish to possess an 
object, as animal or bodily desires, as for food, activity, 
or repose. Second, the rational desires, as for happiness, 
society, wealth, power, esteem, knowledge, hope and fear. 

In this day we discuss the methods of mind culture at 
great length; we seek for plans and incentives for such 
cultivation, but really, how much is done to find plans 
and incentives for the cultivation of the sensibilities? 
The heart or the sensibilities surely needs culture, as 
hearts are stronger than swords, and love conquers 
where steel is powerless. 

The great orators of every age have been men of great 

99 



i.. u. v. 



hearts and intense feelings, indeed, there is no work in 
which you can succeed so well without the fullest cultiva- 
tion of the sensibilities, for the sensibilities are powerful 
impulses for good or evil. 

The higher and nobler feelings need to be stimulated 
and cultivated, and this may be done by meditation upon 
high and noble themes, pure and virtuous objects, by 
loving that which is recognized as the pure and the good. 

The lower sensibilities are active and need to be re- 
pressed or controlled, but never destroyed. To culti- 
vate benevolent affection is highly important, as selfish- 
ness is the bane of narrow-mindedness. The malevol- 
ent affections must be controlled, otherwise the man be- 
comes a brute, a savage. There is danger of over cul- 
tivation of even the highest sensibilities of the soul, and 
when this is done a man becomes an enthusiast, working 
it may be in the best causes, but working without reason. 
This, coupled with an undulycultivated conscience, makes 
what maybe termed a religious pest, the man becoming 
impractical in all his work, losing sight of wise plans and 
methods, when the man is carried forward by a temp- 
est of passion or superstition. 

Conscience is generally named the moral impulse of 
the soul. Joseph Cook says it is the perception of right 
or wrong in motives and a feeling that the right ought 
and the wrong ought not to be chosen by the will. This 
definition is not full enough, we think, as conscience ap- 
proves or disapproves anything already done. 

It is seen that probably no one sentence can correctly 
define it. It is composed of two elements ; first, a sense 
of obligation, as I feel I ought or ought not; second, a 
feeling of approval or disapproval, complacency or re- 
morse when we have done anything. 

There is, then, an intellectual and emotional element 
in conscience, hence it belongs midway between the intel- 
lect and the sensibilities. Conscience is an intuition, 
primitive and original, not something brought into man's 
nature by a process of development or education. It is 
universal as no race however degraded is wholly destitute 
of it. They all say men ought to do the right and avoid 
the wrong, but they may differ greatly as to what is right 

100 



and what is wrong. The decisions of conscience are not 
infallible because the percepts and concepts may be de- 
ceptive, and because the moral sensibilities may become 
so dulled as to fail to respond in approval or disapproval, 
hence all forms of wrong have been committed under the 
guidance and approval of conscience. Hence man needs 
a better guide than can be found in himself and that in- 
fallible guide we believe is the Bible. 

Conscience is susceptible of great abuse. It is the 
voice of the soul, but this voice may be smothered by the 
clamors of passion and appetite. It is a warning-bell, 
but the power of habit may so muffle its sound as to be 
scarcely audible. 

It is a monitor, but it may be so stupefied by repeated 
vices that it fails to sound the note of alarm. 

Conscience is capable of great cultivation. Our moral 
sense of the right and wrong may be greatly improved 
by the enlightenment of the understanding, enabling us 
more clearly to discriminate between the right and 
the wrong, hence the importance of the widest diffusion of 
learning. Is a man guilty who follows the dictates of his 
conscience? That depends on two things; first, whether 
he has failed to use all his light, or whether he has prev- 
iously abused his conscience, and if so, he is verily guilty, 
and hence can not be excused on the ground of consci- 
ence. Generally speaking, however, every one should 
follow his conscience, but that conscience should be care- 
fully tested by the perfect standard of moral conduct, 
which is the Word of God. 

The understanding or reason is that faculty of the 
mind by which it takes the materials furnished by the 
other faculties and works them up into new products. 
Kant calls this faculty the understanding; Locke calls it 
the reflective faculty; Hamilton calls it the elaborate 
faculty, and Dr. Porter calls it thought power. 

Abstraction is the power of forming abstract ideas ; as 
color, separate and distinct from any object. The pro- 
ducts of abstraction are called abstracts. 

Conception or generalization is the power of forming 
general ideas. A general idea is one which embraces 
many particulars, as a horse, of which we think as be- 

101 



ing white or black, large or small. The product of con- 
ception is called a concept, and as to quality or intensity 
these concepts may be clear or obscure, positive or nega- 
tive, false or true, ideal or real. 

Judgment is the power of perceiving the agreement or 
disagreement between two objects or ideas, and the two 
ideas are named terms of the judgment. The judgment 
is based on comparison of these ideas ; as, snow is white. 
A proposition is a judgment expressed in words and in- 
volves two ideas which we again call its terms. Every 
judgment then contains grammatically and logically, a 
subject, a copula and a predicate, and here is where psy- 
chology and logic run together. A judgment is a com- 
parison of two ideas ; reasoning a comparison of two 
ideas through a third. Hence the process of reasoning 
requires three judgments expressed or implied, viz., the 
two judgments compared and the conclusion derived 
from them, which three form what is known in logic as 
the syllogism. Reasoning is of two kinds — inductive, 
deriving a general truth from particulars, as heat ex- 
pands iron, and heat expands zinc, and heat expands all 
substances. 

Deductive reasoning is as follows : All metals expand 
by heat; heat will expand iron. The cultivation of the 
understanding is of the highest importance The under- 
standing is the faculty of thought, and thought is power, 
and the greatest power in the world. Its cultivation 
should begin early while perception is keen, and concep- 
tion is clear, and memory retentive and imagination 
vivid. Cultivate abstraction, but not too much. Culti- 
vate judgment ; learn to have thoughts or opinions of 
your own on all subjects; compare heights, lengths, 
weights, colors, etc. You should cultivate reasoning 
and this is perhaps the strongest faculty of the mind. 
The study of mathematics and logic develop deductive 
reasoning. Inductive reasoning is now considered very 
popular because it reasons from facts and objects, from 
which we derive principles. 



102 



CHAPTER IX 



ETHICS, OR MORAL PHILOSOPHY 

The different terms which are employed are as follows : 
Moral philosophy, moral science and ethics. 

Moral philosophy, as the term indicates, is the philos- 
ophy of morals. Moral science is the science of morals. 
Ethics is that branch of science which relates to moral 
duties, and the term ethics, is lately applied to many other 
branches of study, as legal ethics, political ethics, medi- 
cal ethics and social ethics. 

These are rather misapplications of the term as origin- 
ally intended, and to our thinking, ethics is the most ap- 
propriate term. The science is applied exclusively to 
man as he only has a moral nature. It implies that man 
is capable of performing moral actions, and there is no 
other moral or responsible agent in the world. 

A moral action is an action performed by a moral 
agent and a moral agent is a person who is capable of per- 
forming an intelligent and responsible action. 

The subject of ethics implies also a standard by which 
all moral actions and duties are to be tried, and it will 
be seen that there may be a great number of standards. 

Every race and nation, and especially every form of 
religion will have its standard of ethics. 

Ethics has its beginning in those moral proverbs or 
practical sayings of the wise men of the times, as, for 
instance, the sayings of the wise men of Greece, "Know 
thyself; "What is difficult — to know ones self; what is 
easy — to advise another." 

"Speak not falsely." 

"Learn to command by first learning to obey." 

"Nothing in excess." 

Another one of these wise men said : "The possession 
of power will bring out the man." 

103 



Confucius said : "He who exercises government or 
self-control by means of his virtue may be compared to 
the North Polar Star, which keeps its place and all others 
turn towards it/' 

"What you do not like when done to yourself, do not 
to others." 

"I am not concerned that I am not known. I seek to 
be worthy to be known." 

Socrates taught that all moral excellence rests on true 
knowledge, and all wickedness proceeds from ignorance. 

The Aristotelian schools, viz., the Stoics, Epicureans 
and the Neo-Platonists introduced no fundamentally new 
doctrines ; only a few modifications of the Socratic 
school. 

Aristotle found the highest good in man in happiness, 
rational happiness and well being was the result of well 
doing. 

Modern ethics began in England during the time of 
Thomas Hobbs. He taught that distinctions about right 
and wrong depend upon positive legislation, or laws ; 
hence they were changeable. 

His opponent, Cumberland, taught that, "The common 
good is the supreme law." 

Cudworth wrote against Hobbs, saying that moral 
good and evil cannot possibly be arbitrary things, as they 
are discerned by reason, and not by the will. 

Locke taught that moral good and evil are the agree- 
ment or disagreement of divine law, or civil law, or the 
law of public opinion. 

Dr. Samuel Clark resolved the nature of right and 
wrong into, "The eternal fitness of things." Wollaston 
based it in the truth of things. 

Prichard said right and wrong are original concep- 
tions or intuitions, and so say the Scottish philosophers, 
Stewart, Thomas Reid, and some others in England and 
America. 

Among other writers Henry More, the Earl of Shafts- 
bury, Hutchison, Hume, Thomas Brown and Jonathan 
Edwards speak of "a moral sense of right and wrong." 
The moral sense is based upon judgment and conscience 
which implies that man has a moral nature. 

104 



The standards of ethics are numerous. In religion as 
in Hinduism, the Vedas ; in Mohammedanism, the Koran ; 
in Judaism, the Old Testament; in Christianity, the 
Bible; in law, the legislation, and in the person, con- 
science. 

A Supreme Being. 

The idea of a personal and Supreme Being must be 
considered in any system of ethics. 

Is there a personal Supreme Being, who is self-exist- 
ent, eternal and infinite? No one can ask a greater 
question than this. The manner of discussing the sub- 
ject in former times was much plainer than now, as we 
think, and much more satisfactory. It was in apt and 
gracious words, if not in rigidly scientific terms. Per- 
haps modern writers have been drawn into this complex 
mode of treating the subject, in order to answer the ob- 
jections and criticisms of metaphysical skeptics. 

We will first give what is known as the ontological 
proof. Things do exist. They have either always ex- 
isted or they have had a beginning. Both of these are 
stupendous statements, and no mind can fully compre- 
hend either one. 

Things have not always existed ; they had a beginning, 
and they did not begin themselves. They were produced 
by a power above nature, and hence that power which is 
above nature is supernatural. What existed before 
things or matter is uncreated, self-existent, and if un- 
created and self-existent, then there is no room for any 
other thought than that of a personal Supreme, Eternal,, 
Divine Being. 

The second argument or proof is called cosmological, 
and is based upon the order, arrangement and adapta- 
tion, apparent in nature. It was this order and not sim- 
ply quietude which induced Pope to say, "Order is 
Heaven's first Law/' There is everywhere apparent 
adaptation of means to an end, as the eye to light, the 
ear to sound, the mouth to food, the man to earth, ^and 
the earth to man. 

The next proof is teleological, which is based upon the 

105 



evident design and benevolence in order and adaptation 
in nature. The teeth were made for cutting food and 
not to ache; the stomach was made for digesting food, 
and not for dyspepsia; the feet were made for locomo- 
tion. A narrow view of nature, as of anything else, is 
generally an incorrect view, and it is the broad view which 
sees the general benevolence. 

The fourth is the linguistic argument. There are three 
great sources of language : Turanian, Semitic and 
Aryan, and starting from these grand centers we find 
names or words in all languages more or less distinctly 
expressive of a personal Supreme Being. The Chaldaic 
has Ra, and the Iranic has Ahura-Mazda. 

The Hindu has Brahm, which he calls the Great One; 
the Semites have Elohim and Jehovah. 

The fifth proof is derived from the Ethnic Religions. 
With man, religion is original and not derivative ; it is 
native, and not foreign. There are two ways of viewing 
the history of man, the one is to suppose that he started 
from a high and luminous plateau and then descended 
through a dark valley of degradation, out of which at 
some time in the past he began to ascend and is now on 
an upward inclined plane to a still higher plateau. 

We rather view him as starting from a low plane, not 
so low as Sir John Lubbock and Prof. Darwin and evo- 
lutionists generally place him, and from which plane his 
course has been marked by ascents and descents, the 
average of which, however, has always been to a higher 
plane. Tracing man back along that uneven history, we 
are ever and anon passing his shrines, his temples and his 
gods, and we observe that he has made a good part of 
the journey on his knees. 

Rude at times, his worship has been, but it has never- 
theless been worship, and no tribe or people has ever 
been found which has been wholly destitute of religion or 
worship. 

Another fact is evident in connection with this and 
that is the monotheistic form of religion was the original 
from which all forms of polytheism have sprung. Pure 
atheism is very rare, and still rarer is anti-theism which 
denies the possibility of a God. 

106 



These are the general and principal arguments now 
usually relied upon by moral philosophers in proving the 
existence of one Supreme Being. 

The question is important as we believe there can be 
no system of ethics properly so considered without a 
recognition of a supreme moral government, and there 
is no supreme moral government without a Supreme Be- 
ing. 

Moral government itself is not based on the eternal 
fitness of things, nor on the expression, "God could not 
do otherwise." 

It differs from fatalism and pantheism. Its source is 
external to nature, but not independent from it. 

It is God, personal, self-existent and eternal. He is 
the source of both moral and natural laws, and between 
these there is no essential difference, as they both pro- 
ceed from God, and so far as they are not perverted by 
man, they are the expressions of His will. 

The moral laws apply to moral agents and natural laws 
to the material universe. Moral agents are, however, 
more or less affected by both. 

The extent of this moral government must be con- 
sidered. As natural law extends to all material things, 
so moral laws extend to all beings capable of understand- 
ing the relations of right and wrong. 

Perhaps it extends also to the inhabitants of other 
planets. 

The duration of this moral government is worthy of 
notice. 

While the source lasts, the law must last, and as the 
source is eternal, the law is eternal unless this source 
shall repeal it of which there is no intimation. 

The awards of moral government must not be over- 
looked. 

If the source of moral law is eternal, and the subject of 
moral law is immortal, awards must be eternal. 

The reward and punishment must be co-extensive with 
the subject, and that is eternal. 

The principles of moral government are here stated. 

107 



Moral and natural law are administered on a different 
plan, the latter takes no account of character, the former 
does. 

The results of violation in both cases are not confined 
exclusively to the transgressor. 

The disproportion of penalty to the violation of natural 
law, as is supposed, may be seen, for instance, in the case 
of a child, which dies from the simple burning of the 
finger. So as is often seen, there is an apparent dispro- 
portion between sin and eternal punishment, but in both 
cases there is no doubt exact justice. 

The evidences of moral government are as follows : 

If the world is not under moral government all must 
be chance or fate. Destiny then is the result of fate or 
chance. 

The order of things which we observe in the universe 
implies law, and any interference with that order involves 
punishment. 

The result of harmony with nature produces reward. 

Conscience is another proof. 

The Bible, however, is the authoritative proof. 

Man is a moral agent, and a moral agent is a being 
that is capable of performing a moral action. 

A moral action is a free action of a responsible agent. 
If we are not responsible, then we are not moral agents. 
The following are not moral agents : 

Idiots, heathen, little children. 

The duties we owe to God are reverence, fear or love, 
no matter what the term may be, and this reverence leads 
to worship and worship is characteristic of universal 
man, and of no other creature. This worship must be 
exclusive and supreme. 

It excludes all pagan worship or adoration of inferior 
objects. 

It includes all those subordinate duties necessary for 
the completion of the acts of worship, such as prayer, 
ministry, and sacraments. It implies also obedience to 
His word. God having given us a communication, a rev- 
elation of His will, wherein not only general but specific 
duties are enjoined, it becomes man's duty to obey this 

108 



word. This word is not simply a token, a sacred history, 
a practical directory, but it must be man's supreme law 
which should be heartily obeyed. 

The reasons or bases for these duties are as follows : 

There being a moral government and man being a 
moral agent, it is his duty to obey this government. 

God is supreme, and therefore has a right to govern 
with what laws he pleases. 

God is the Creator and hence has a right to govern his 
own creation. 

Man is dependent upon God, is upheld by Him, hence 
his duty to obey him. 

Christian ethics adds another reason for obedience; 
the redemption of man through Jesus Christ, thus de- 
veloping a sense of gratitude and love. These duties to 
God must be superior to those we owe to civil govern- 
ment; superior to those we owe to society, or to our- 
selves. Hence idolatry has always been punished more 
severely than any other sin. 

The duties we owe to our fellow-beings grow out of 
the various relations which we sustain to each other. 
They may be classified ; first, as domestic duties, and these 
originate with the home and home starts with marriage. 

Marriage is a universal duty of all who by reason of 
mental or physical competency are capable of consum- 
mating the contract. The perpetuity of the race depends 
upon it, hence of such persons as referred to, it may be 
said to be not optional but a duty. 

Celibacy is to be condemned. Monogamy is the or- 
iginal and proper condition of the race, and the history of 
civilized man, and even much of heathenism, con- 
demns equally polygamy and polyandry. Hence follow 
the duties of husband and wife, such as mutual love and 
reverence, the conscientious observance of the marriage 
contract. Then there are individual duties. The wife 
owes obedience to the husband as head of the household, 
and on the other hand, the husband owes the wife pro- 
tection and support. These different duties are founded 
upon natural and moral laws. The release from these 
duties is legally declared by divorcement. Next, we note 
the duties of parents and children. 

109 



It is the duty of parents to nurture and protect their 
children. It is their duty to govern and control their 
children, and this makes the parents responsible for their 
conduct until they arrive at majority. It is their duty 
to educate their children, mentally and morally, as they 
have no right to impose ignorant and vicious children 
upon society. Next we observe the duties of children to 
parents, such as obedience, love and reverence. The pa- 
rents are entitled to the results of their labors until they 
arrive at majority. 

The next general division is social duties, such as we 
owe to each other, as individual members of society. 

These duties originate in the fatherhood of God and 
the consequent brotherhood of the race. We owe to 
every person justice, truth, love, and these duties grow 
out of the ethical nature of man and are emphasized by 
Christianity. 



* 



110 



CHAPTER X 



SOCIAL SCIENCE, OR POLITICAL 
ECONOMY 

Political Economy is that department of social science 
which treats of the development and application of ma- 
terial wealth for the physical well being of men in society. 
It has been briefly termed the science of wealth. Under 
the ancient civilization of Greece, Rome, Egypt and India 
we discover many of the facts and principles of economics, 
but no clearly defined system or arrangement of those 
facts and principles. 

Aristotle was the first to use the terms "Political Econ- 
omy," but he used it in a vague and uncertain sense, but 
announced at the same time economic principles, which 
have stood the test of time. 

In early years with the Greeks and Romans agriculture 
was the only form of honorable labor. All mechanical 
and commercial occupations were considered servile and 
degrading, and hence they developed no system of po- 
litical economy in its wide and true sense. 

"The Dark Ages" checked all industry and commerce 
as well as all forms of progress. Feudalism gave rise to 
the protective policy, and in some sense was the origin of 
monopolies, but in the sixteenth century sprang up the 
industries of commerce in the Italian cities and the Ital- 
ians of this and the following centuries may be regarded 
as the founders of political economy. Spanish and French 
writers, under Henry IV., and Louis XIV., greatly aided 
in the development of this science. A restrictive policy 
which forbade the exportation of gold and silver, and the 

111 



subject of "The balance of Trade" were insisted upon dur- 
ing the first stages of this science, and England during the 
operation of the East India Company, was the first na- 
tion to oppose the restrictive policy and advocate free 
trade. In 1776, Adam Smith published his work, entitled 
"Wealth of Nations/' which is regarded as the beginning 
of modern political economy. As a matter, of course, 
the earlier writers were English, except those referred to, 
and hence favored this modern policy of England, that of 
Free Trade, but latterly the United States has produced 
many able writers and this science in its various branches, 
is destined to be for some time to come a most prolific 
source of discussion by politicians and statesmen, and to 
every one who wishes the prosperity of his country it 
must be and continue to be a most interesting subject. 

Wealth 

Wealth is the chief subject of political economy, and 
wealth not so much in the individual as in the aggregate. 
The word comes from the Anglo Saxon, Welta and is 
thought to come from the same Latin root, vales. It is a 
synonym for riches, or material possessions, which have 
utility and may be appropriated exclusively and also ex- 
changed. It is an old, but erroneous idea, that money 
only is wealth, but this idea still lingers in the minds of 
many. 

Money is the accepted measure of all values, but is a 
very small portion of wealth. Wealth is closely allied 
to value because value is the measure of wealth, hence if 
possessions, however vast, have no value, they have no 
wealth. Wealth is also related to price, and the price may 
in some instances be either above or below the value, 
and in either case wealth is either increased or decreased. 
Wealth is also related to cost as the value and price of 
possessions are usually estimated according to the cost 
of production, that is the time and labor, either skilled 
or unskilled, which have been expended upon the produc- 
tion. 

112 



Production ot Wealth 

Historically, there are five stages or periods in the pro- 
duction of wealth, the hunting, fishing, pastoral, agricul- 
tural and stationary periods. The hunting and fishing 
and pastoral stages are where wealth consists mostly of 
the natural productions of the earth, such as animals, fish 
and fruits. In the hunting period which is the first, man 
requires less facilities and less exchange for the products 
of his labor. 

This is indeed the primitive condition of man. 

The fishing period is an advance upon the hunting per- 
iod, because it requires superior facilities, but most of all 
because it leads to exchange of products. 

In the pastoral stage, men begin to divide off in tribes, 
take possession of tracts of land, accumulate flocks and 
herds, and here at once is seen a great variety in the 
equality of possessions. 

After the Middle Ages, when agriculture rapidly in- 
creased, various handicrafts were developed and skilled 
labor was in demand, but when machinery began to su- 
persede handicraft, and when capital began to furnish in- 
creased facilities for the more rapid production of wealth 
the question of a division of labor assumed great prom- 
inence. 

The stationary periods are indicated by the settling 
down of the nomadic tribes, the building of towns and 
cities and the organization of states and nations. 

Practically there are three necessary factors in the pro- 
duction of wealth; the bounties of nature, such as land 
and what it produces, water and air; and labor bestowed 
on the bounties of nature ; and capital which supplies (not 
creates) the bounties of nature, furnishes improved facili- 
ties for labor, and in the meantime supports the laborer, 
and in the best condition of society, these three factors 
work together harmoniously. 

Production creates utility, not new matter. The boun- 
ties of nature, however, do not long remain free to all, as 
by reason of custom and law, the possession of them be- 
comes restricted to those who have discovered them, or 
bestowed labor on them, or purchased them. Home- 
steads may be secured in the West, by the bestowment of 

113 



certain amount of labor on a given tract of land. Hunt- 
ing and fishing are restricted by certain laws. About the 
only thing upon which man has not placed a mortgage, or 
does not lay exclusive claim to is the use of the free air 
of heaven, and no matter how much of it may be used, 
nor in what way, there seems to be enough for all man- 
kind, and the only restriction here, is that men must not 
needlessly pollute the atmosphere, and this is for the pub- 
lic good. 

Labor proper, is service rendered by human beings. 
The service of man is more valuable than that of the 
horse because of the greater intelligence and independ- 
ence of man, and not because of strength ; hence a man 
sells for more than a horse. Skilled labor is labor with 
intelligence. 

Labor 

Historically there are three conditions of labor, 
namely, slavery, serfdom and free contract. Slavery is 
that kind of labor performed without any reward directly 
for services rendered. Serfdom is that condition of labor 
in which the laborer is not only the slave, but is more or 
less attached to the soil, and it was the rule of the old 
feudal system. Free contract labor is that which is now 
generally observed in all civilized nations. Labor is the 
work which man performs on any factor in the production 
of wealth. It has a great variety of values. In some in- 
stances physical strength is the chief factor because one 
strong man can do the work, but in most instances this 
is not considered, otherwise a horse in some cases would 
be more valuable than a man. A horse needs a driver, a 
guide, while, of course, some men need also an overseer 
or superintendent, but one man can superintend more 
men than they can horses. It is then intelligent labor 
more than physical strength that gives special value to 
man's labor. Moral qualities also add value to his labor 
because in such cases the intellect will be considered, and 
hence the labor more intelligently directed and also bet- 
ter results will follow. Labor in its lowest sense in civi- 
lized countries refers to a large class of people who live 

114 



by manual labor and simply receive wages. This has al- 
ways been the condition of civilized society, and perhaps 
will always continue so. I know it is very difficult to dis- 
cuss labor without discussing the laborer, as it is diffi- 
cult to separate the thing done from the doer. 

Labor is often divided into common and skilled labor. 
Common labor is generally of the kind that does not re- 
quire much previous apprenticeship. Again, it does not 
require a high degree of intelligence to perform it, and 
again, also, any loss of material by reason of his lack of 
skill or intelligence does not generally result in so heavy 
a loss to the capitalist who supplies the materials because 
the amount of labor previously done on an article before 
it comes into the hand of the skilled laborer renders the 
material upon which he works of more value than the 
crude material. Hence for these and other reasons, the 
skilled laborer is paid higher wages. Skilled labor may 
be called also the labor of the artizan and the machinist, 
and these are also capable of being greatly subdivided. 

After all, labor is valuable only as it brings good re- 
sults, or in other words as it produces wealth. One of 
the great advantages in the production of wealth in these 
times is the division of labor. By this means instead of 
as in former times one man finishing the whole piece of 
work, a particular part is assigned to one man and in the 
production of which he thus becomes very skilled. Thus 
the work of ten men divided will turn out more and bet- 
ter work than each man completing the entire work. 
This division of labor is now observed in law and medi- 
cine and all the learned professions. 

As an illustration to make a pin by hand originally re- 
quired fourteen distinct operations, not to speak of mak- 
ing the wire, but now one machine does it all, even to 
sticking the pins into the cushions or paper. 



115 



CHAPTER XI 



ART AND MUSIC 

Art is the embodiment or expression of esthetic feeling" 
in human production. Theoretically it is a systematic col- 
lection of principles or rules by which a certain result may 
be obtained; practically it is the systematic application of 
these principles or rules in producing desired results. The 
Romans had two classes of art, the liberal arts, embracing 
the higher branches of, education which freemen only were 
permitted to pursue ; and the servile arts, embracing the 
various trades which were practiced by slaves only. An 
old division of the arts was the useful and the ornamental 
arts which division, however, is now generally discarded. 
Utilitarian ideas are now much more liberal and compre- 
hensive than in former times. Man is considered to be 
more than a beast ; he has a soul ; he needs to do more 
than dig in the ground ; he needs to look up to the stars. 
Is it not useful to gaze upon the marble statues of the 
world's great men whom we have or have not seen in the 
flesh? Is it not useful to view with wonder Raphael's 
transfiguration of Christ? Is it not useful to listen to the 
rendering of Handel's Messiah, Mozart's Requiem or 
Beethoven's Prayer? Yet that old definition would say 
that the effect is only ornamental. 

Others have made three divisions of art : the mechanic, 
the liberal and the polite arts, but it will be observed upon 
a moment's thought that even these divisions are not clear 
distinctions, for they are all more or less mechanical, po- 
lite and liberal. The mechanical arts are such as embrace 
the various forms of manual skilled labor ; the liberal arts 

116 



are such as refer to the various phases of educational life; 
and the polite arts are such as are now known mostly by 
the expression, fine arts. And the polite or fine arts are 
also divisible into two classes, such as are recognized by 
the eye, as painting, engraving, sculpture and architec- 
ture, and such as are recognized by the ear, as oratory, 
poetry and music. 

As to the relative merits of the fine arts there will al- 
ways be a difference of opinion among men correspond- 
ing largely to their difference in esthetic feeling and cul- 
ture. The mechanic may think that he hears more music 
in the squeal of his plane or the buzz of his saw or the 
ring of his hammer than in the sweet tones of the best vio- 
lin. To him a violinist is a foolish man who is simply 
drawing some horse hair across some strings stretched 
over a box! To him that is nothing but a foolish waste 
of time ! The engineer or farmer boy may think that 
there is more music in his whistle than in the best silver 
cornet in the best orchestra. The good old housewife 
would not give the musical hum of her spinning Jenny 
for the most melodious song of a Jenny Lind ! And the 
father may rather listen to the morning and evening song 
of the old family tea-kettle than to the most beautiful 
notes of the best cabinet organ ! To some, playing the 
piano is but thumping and is not of much practical value. 
To some music has no value whatever. I wonder if such 
persons do not sometimes wish that the music of the deep 
seas roar might cease forever, and that all the musical 
instruments might be split into kindling wood; that all 
the choirs might be sent to — no matter where, and that all 
the warblers of the forest might be strangled to death for 
disturbing the public peace! Now, if the seas and the 
winds and the birds and the people were to suddenly adopt 
this sentiment would we not have a still world? Not a 
bird in our forest to warble, not a lady in our parlor to 
sing, not a flute, fife, horn, organ or piano to play ! Why 
the people would think it were the world's funeral day ! 
Yea worse, for we sing at funerals ! O give us good mu- 
sic and joyful song. The Lord has filled the heavens 

117 



above us with the choicest songs and celestial minstrelsy 
and the air around us is vibrating with music, and let us 
make earth as much like heaven as possible. 

The man that hath no music in himself 

Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds 

Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils, 

The motions of his spirit are dull as night 

And his affections dark as Erebus, 

Let no such man be trusted. 

Schelling calls architecture frozen music. 

There is something in sculpture that fills us with awe 
and reverence. When walking among nicely shaped busts 
and chiseled statues there is a feeling comes over us kin- 
dred to that when we are in the house of the dead. I 
remember when looking upon the statuary on exhibition 
at the Columbian Exposition as I moved among the mar- 
ble statues of the world's great men of the past and the 
present and saw there Homer, Apollo, the Centaurs, 
Shakespeare, Milton, Clay, Webster and Lincoln, that I 
felt much as if I were moving among the shades of the 
departed and every word should be spoken in a solemn 
undertone. But it is the province of painting to inspire 
a more lofty feeling; and perhaps it is so because it is 
more like life than death, and yet no one of the fine arts 
inspires like music. It is more independent, ethereal and 
spiritual than any of the fine arts. Sculpture is depend- 
ent upon the mallet and the chisel ; painting is dependent 
upon the paint and the brush ; but music has a power as 
independent of words as are the smiles of joy or the tears 
of gratitude ; these indeed give eloquence to words, but 
require no words to render them eloquent. So music 
gives eloquence to words, but is eloquent without words. 

But some may be curious to know what we have to say 
about the origin of music ; what circumstances gave it 
birth, what tongue sang the first note, what heart first 
felt its power? To answer these questions is certainly no 
easy task. Its origin, however, like the origin of the 
other fine arts is not marked by any striking fact or inci- 
dent in history, but like the origin of all the sciences it is 
rather a development from small and unnoticeable events 

118 



or facts than a sudden knowledge of its principles by any 
one individual. Darwin says, "I conclude that musical 
notes and rhythm were first acquired by the male or fe- 
male progenitor of mankind for the sake of charming the 
opposite sex." And we confess that there is strength 
in his analogical reasoning by which he arrives at this 
conclusion. Herbert Spencer says man acquired this 
art by observing the cadences of emotional speech. This, 
of course, implies that he had speech before he had music ; 
and if we are to suppose that he acquired speech himself, 
then we conclude that his music existed before he acquired 
speech, for our emotional precedes our intellectual de- 
velopment. But if man was created with the full use of 
language, then music came afterward unless we conclude 
that music was also a part of his natural endowment. We 
rather conclude that man was not created with but de- 
veloped both language and music ; he developed the lat- 
ter by observing the cadences of his own voice. 

Music is as natural to man as it is natural for the cat 
to purr or the lion to roar. Man took as his elements the 
open vowels or those sounds expressive of emotion, then 
by prolonging or shortening the sounds he found he 
would express pathos, joy or anger or any of the emo- 
tions of his nature. But the real origin of music is lost 
among the hazy labyrinths of its own antiquity. This 
fragment of fabulous Greek history is at least of interest 
if not of much real merit. In those early times there were 
some beautiful mountain nymphs who used to discourse 
such sweet music through the mountain forests as to en- 
chant the inhabitants, and at one time some of them stood 
around the grave of a loved one playing and watching 
until they were all transformed into poplars or weeping 
willows. Who can tell but that this is a vague tradition 
of that Edenic time when upon our mountain tops might 
yet be heard the songs of the angels and the virgin earth 
still rang with the footfalls of our God? May it not be 
that man took his first lessons in music under the instruc- 
tion of the angels who were his daily companions in the 
Garden of the Lord? But let its origin on earth be what 
it may, its fountain head is in heaven, its liquid stream has 
come down to earth, but its ocean lies in eternity. Heaven 

119 



is its store-house, earth is its resonant gallery, and our 
music is but the counter-part of angelic song; they have 
the body of the tune and we have but chimed in with the 
distant chorus, and it was designed that after we have 
passed our brief quarter of lessons on earth then to join 
with the angels in the grand oratorios over a world re- 
deemed to God. 

The history of music is very extensive and much diffus- 
ed, and it is very difficult even to group the most salient 
points in that history. We have already referred to the 
probable origin of vocal music, but what shall be said of 
the origin and history of instrumental music? Very like- 
ly the wind blowing into broken reeds as they stood up 
stiffly in some low marsh land or river may have sug- 
gested the first rude pan-pipe of which the flute is, but a 
modification. Dry sea weed stretched on rocks or shells 
may possibly have been the primitive Aeolian harp from 
which have come the lyre and guitar. So also as to the 
origin of other instruments. Wind instruments made of 
reindeers' horns have been found among the debris of the 
stone age and hence belong to pre-historic times. Nearly 
3.000 years before the Christian era the first Emperor of 
China is said to have invented an instrument of music 
made of strips of wood over which silken cords were 
stretched, and it was played with both hands and its sound 
was said to calm the passions and inspire virtuous senti- 
ments. The various kinds of drums are the most universal 
of all kinds of instruments ; and they appeared most suit- 
ed to the savage life and most pagan gods were supposed 
to be delighted with the batter and bang of the gongs of 
the worshipers. 

The first instruments of music mentioned in the Bible 
are the harp and the organ. And going to the heathen 
world we will perhaps find first the pipe, the flute or the 
horn; and as the first tribes were nomadic it seems prob- 
able that they would first use the shepherd's pipe or the 
hunter's horn. The histories of vocal and instrumental 
music seem to run parallel with each other, for when ever 
we find the one we find the other also. Perhaps man first 
formed some idea of a scale from his own voice and then 
for greater power tried to make some instrument to har- 

120 



monize with his voice, but if the formation of the scale had 
been left to some people it would not have been formed 
to this day, for they cannot follow the scale when it is 
formed. Indeed what a trying thing it is to teach some 
people to sing. A celebrated leader of a band once had a 
trombone player of great lung power by the name of Per- 
kins. The leader cautioned every one to be careful to 
mind the musical marks. There was in it one sweet strain 
marked pp and coming to that Perkins put out all his 
great lung power. The leader stopped them and reprov- 
ed Perkins, but he replied that he had played according 
to his book; and when the book was examined by the 
leader he asked what pp meant? Perkins replied why, of 
course, it means put in Perkins ! The histories of vocal 
and instrumental music are so nearly always blended that 
we will not attempt a separation, for the influence of the 
one is mostly attended by the influence of the other. Only 
a few of the multitude of facts can we mention here. Its 
first mention in sacred history is in the 4th of Genesis, 
where Jubal is spoken of as the father of such as handle 
the harp and the organ. And how curiously has the name 
of this musician been handed down to this time? His 
name in some form, it is said, can be found in almost every 
language. The Hebrew had Jubilee, we have Jubilant, 
Jubilate and also Jubilee! And the latest mention of his 
name was near the close of the civil war when it was said 
of the slaves as they saw the Lincoln gun-boats coming 
they shouted "the Jubilum am come" ! We thought that 
a strange word when we first saw it, but it is the exact 
Latin word for Jubilee. And if Jubal was the inventor 
of the harp and organ (but a mouth-piece, however), as 
the Bible seems to indicate, his name is worthy to be per- 
petuated to the latest time. David was a cunning player 
on the harp ; and Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, 
sang and played at the triumphal march through the Red 
Sea. It was at the sound of the ram's horns that the walls 
of Jericho fell down. All through the Old Testament 
economy in the choral service, voices and instruments 
were employed, and they had a great variety of instru- 
ments. The Talmud speaks of an instrument used about 
the beginning of the Christian era in Jerusalem, called 

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Magrepha, and it had ten pipes and_ one hundred different 
tones, and when played the tones were so powerful that 
the people in their homes could not hear each other 
speak. Some say this was rather a large drum, and others 
say it was a large fire-shovel used at the fires burning the 
sacrifices and when done was thrown down violently and 
the sound let the people know when the time of sacrifice 
ended. Josephus makes this wonderful statement that at 
a certain Jewish performance there were engaged 200,000 
singers, 40,000 sistrums, 40,000 harpers 200,000 trumpet- 
ers. What now of Gilmore and Wagner with their anvil 
choruses ! 

Hindu Music 

Among the Hindus music has been treated as a fine art, 
and its history dates as far back as their history, mythical 
and real, leads us. The goddess of Speech and Oratory, 
the wife of Brahma, brought this art down to man and 
gave him also his first musical instrument called the 
Vina. It had four strings and resembled a guitar, and it 
was made of a large hollow bamboo with a large hollow 
gourd at each end. The tone was both delicate and full 
and the music composed for it was both rapid and bril- 
liant. They have had also from time immemorial a three- 
stringed violin, so that Raphael and Tintoretto did not 
commit an anachronism, as some have supposed, by paint- 
ing Apollo having a violin, thinking this instrument of 
much later origin. 

Chinese Music 

The Chinese Musical? Many have supposed them the 
most inanimate people in the world, but on the contrary, 
their musical history is found to be superior and like most 
heathen nations, they ascribe the origin of music to su- 
pernatural beings, and its history is finely interwoven with 
their mythical history. In authorship on this subject they 
are certainly not deficient, while in the Imperial Library 
at Pekin are found 482 volumes on music. Chinese au- 
thentic history begins with Fo-hi, the founder of the Em- 
pire about 2,250 B. C. He invented the kin, a stringed 
instrument, the various parts of which symbolized many 

122 



things, and it was supposed to have great power. Indeed 
in an important sense they make this science the founda- 
tion of all their sciences. One of those early emperors 
ordered a certain man to develop music, and to do this he 
went to the northwest of China and cut a bamboo and re- 
moved the pith and blew into it and the sound was the ex- 
act pitch of the human voice. Thus was discovered the 
fundamental tone. He found also that the notes of birds 
and the bubbling of waters were in exact unison with his 
new made reed. In listening to the songs of the male 
and female birds he discovered six different harmonic 
sounds, and from these he formed the scale. One of those 
early writers gives some sensible advice, such as music 
should follow the sense of the words, it should be simple 
and unaffected. Music is an expression of the soul of the 
musicians. Confucius was a great lover of music and an 
excellent performer, and once while he was performing 
some grand music, a passer by remarked, "Surely one 
who can play thus must have his soul occupied with great 
thoughts." In his latter days of extreme poverty he sang 
and played much as usual, and when asked how he could 
do so he replied, "The wise man seeks by music to 
strengthen the weakness of his soul. The thoughtless 
uses it to stifle his fears." Under the reign of Tchin or 
Tsin, after whom China was named, all the sciences and 
arts except agriculture and medicine were severely pro- 
scribed. All musical instruments were destroyed or re- 
modeled, and the musical bells were melted and formed 
into collossal statues. Science, he claimed, was opposed 
to true progress, and it was this emperor who built those 
famous walls. The next dynasty, however, endeavored to 
restore all the sciences and succeeded to a gratifying de- 
gree. Music at the emperor's court became very fash- 
ionable, and at one time, A. D. 280, one of those emperors 
employed 10,000 women, all proficient singers and per- 
formers. When traveling they were accompanied by a 
large number of these musicians, sometimes as many as 
500 attended them. Their system teaches that there are 
eight different sounds in nature, the sound of tanned skin, 
of stone, of metal, of baked clay, of silken strings, of wood 
in percussion, of bamboo and calabash or gourd, and 

123 



from these materials most of their instruments are made. 
They have eight different kinds of drums ornamented in 
endless variety. So far as I know this is the only people 
who have succeeded in getting music out of a stone, and 
this rough stone is found near mountain streams and 
will polish like agate. When this instrument is ready for 
use, it is said to resemble a clothes horse on which is sus- 
pended sixteen carpenter's squares which are struck in 
rapid succession with a wooden mallet, and it is said that 
when these faces and angles are changed in the least the 
melody or harmony is lost and can never be restored. 
European music was introduced in China by the Jesuits 
in 1678, but never became popular. 

The music of Japan is so nearly the same as that of 
China as not to need any special notice, but it should be 
mentioned, however, that in every respect it is inferior. 
Turning but for a moment to savage nations we will find 

Music the tender child of rudest times. 
The gentle native of all lands and climes 
Who hymns alike man's cradle and his grave, 
Lulls the low cot and peals along the nave. 

When Carrier, the discoverer of the St. Lawrence river, 
sailed up that river in 1537, he heard the savages singing 
a rude song in which was distinctly heard the word Alle- 
luia, and this being a Hebrew word, some suppose them 
to have been a part of the lost tribes of Israel. The war 
dances and camp fire songs of the North American In- 
dians are too well known to need but the reference to 
them. The Kaffir of Southern Africa is a perfect time 
keeper, but knows but little more about music. Like a 
great many who are not savages, he thinks that loudness 
is the chief excellence, and hence when he has yelled as 
loud as he can he strikes his sides with his elbows which 
literally knocks the noise out of him. 

The Bushman has a string of bells or rattles around 
each ankle, and he stands on one foot and shakes the 
other and changes when wearied and thus he shakes the 
music out of the bells. 

Sir Samuel Baker says the natives of Africa are so 

124 



fond of music that he believes that a London organ grin- 
der could pass through Central Africa not only unharmed 
but followed by an admiring crowd. 

When Stanley was about leaving Africa for his native 
home, the natives gave him a farewell concert. After 
the dance was ended they all dropped on their knees and 
in a sorrowful refrain sang an improvised song : 

Oh, oh, oh! the white man's going home 
Oh, oh, oh ! is going home 

To the happy island on the sea 
Where the beads are plenty, oh, oh, oh! 
Where the beads are plenty, oh, oh, oh! 

This is much like our plantation songs. Music has a 
power thus for all nations. 

Warriors she fires with animated sounds, 
Pours balm into the lover's wounds, 
Melancholy lifts her head, 
Morpheus rouses from his bed, 
Sloth unfolds her arms and wakes, 
Listening envy drops her snakes, 
Intestine wars no more our passions urge 
And giddy factions bear away their rage. 

Egyptian Music 

Among the hieroglyphics of Egypt it is said, may be 
found instruments of music that antedate the birth of 
Christ about 2,000 years. They ascribe the invention, or 
discovery of the lyre to Thoth, the Egyptian name of 
Mercury. During the inundation of the Nile a tortoise 
was floated out and left high and dry there to die. After 
the water had receded Thoth wandered along the banks 
and found the dry shell with the dry tendons stretched 
across it and accidentally striking it with her foot it gave 
out beautiful sounds. This led to the construction of the 
lyre, and this lyre had three strings representing the three 
seasons of Egypt. The deepest string represented the 
wet season, the middle string the growing season, and the 

125 



other the harvest season. Their musical scale had seven 
tones, representing the seven planets known to them. 

Their earliest song was a funeral march sung at the 
death of the son of their first king and this song was 
known after this among the Greeks and Herodotus, not 
knowing its origin when traveling in Egypt was very 
much surprised to hear it there. 

The musicians were not permitted to transmit their 
knowledge from father to son and were never permitted 
to change their occupation and all of them were required 
to reside in the same ward or quarter of the city. Every 
body sings while at work ! While threshing out the grain 
they sing: 

Thresh for yourselves oh ! oxen 
Thresh for yourselves, 
Measure for your masters, 
Measure for yourselves. 

Once while 172 men were engaged in removing a large 
statue from the quarry, one man was seated on the statue 
giving the time in a refrain in which all were to join 
something like the sailors' hauling away at the ropes. A 
harp about 3,000 years old was found in a stone tomb, 
and when the strings were restored gave out the old 
strains so long silent. The ancient Egyptians were a mu- 
sical people. 

Greek Music 

The Greeks evidently borrowed their music mostly 
from the Egyptians as they did most of their arts and sci- 
ences, and they ascribe the invention of the lyre to Mer- 
cury and make Apollo the god of music. Of all the an- 
cients the Greeks have the reputation of being the most 
musical, indeed, in esthetic culture of all kinds they ex- 
celled. Their system of notations was by placing the let- 
ters of the alphabet in different positions — straight, side- 
ways, diagonal and circular and so on. Play on the piano 
the first seven letters of the alphabet, and it is said you 
have the Greek octave diatonic scale. Contrary to our 
usage he played what he called his highest note on his 

126 



longest string. But it is a singular fact that only three 
Greek hymns set to music have come down to our day 
and copies of these hymns do not date farther back than 
the fifteenth century. 

The musical contests which took place at the Grecian 
games led to a rapid improvement in music. Pollux, who 
was of giant size, and who slept on a bear skin in imita- 
tion of Hercules who slept on a lion skin, is said to have 
gained seventeen victories as a trumpeter. He could 
play two trumpets at once and these trumpeters and flut- 
ists were proud of bursting a blood-vessel in their efforts 
to excel each other and to amuse and gain the applause 
of the people. Terpander was the great musician among 
the Spartans, and by his power he is said to have quelled 
all dissension in Sparta. Most of his music was in march- 
ing rhythm and used in time of battle. Stesichorus was 
the founder of the Greek chorus, and a statue was erected 
to his memory. Polycrates, the sea-king, had a choir of 
beautiful boys whose duty was to sing sweet Lydian 
music while the king ate his meals. 

Sappho was a leader in musical culture and poetry, and 
she had a large number of pupils, and indeed it would 
seem as if she stood at the head of a conservatory. Solon 
was very much affected by one of her songs and expressed 
the wish that he might not die before he committed one of 
them to memory. 

Anacreon introduced into Greece a light kind of song in 
praise of women, wine and love. Pythagoras, who coin- 
ed the word philosopher which took the place of sophos 
(wise) was the first to critically investigate music as a 
science. His maxim was, All is number and harmony. 
He believed that mathematics should be the guide to 
music, and that the universe itself was constructed on a 
musical plan, and he was probably the first to introduce 
the theory of the Music of the Spheres, and how persistent 
has been that belief? Shakespeare sings : 

Look how the floor of heaven 

Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold? 

There is not the smallest orb which thou beholdest 

But in his motion like an angel sings, 

Still quiring to the young eyed cherubim. 

127 



And Milton also says : 

Ring out ye crystal spheres, 
Once bless our human ears 
If ye have power to touch our senses so ; 
i And let your silver chimes 

Move in melodious time 

And let the bass of heaven's deep organ blow 
And with your ninefold harmony 
Make up full consort to the angelic symphony. 

Even Tennyson says in his Ode to Memory : 

Since she was nigher to heaven's spheres 
Listening to the lordly music flowing from 
The illimitable years. 

After all, this theory may not be so much a fancy as we 
may have supposed. It is known that vibrations of less 
than sixteen to the second are inaudible, being too low for 
the human ear to catch, and that vibrations above 38,- 
000 in a second are also inaudible, being too high for the 
human ear to perceive, and the fact that we do not hear 
this music of the spheres is not a proof of its non-exist- 
ence. A bullet or a cannon ball makes music as it flies 
through the air, but it is most enjoyed when the farthest 
off. These celestial balls flying with such wonderful and 
diverse velocity in the heavens must make up a celestial 
orchestra whose music rolls like waves of moving light 
along the cerulean archways of creation's vast and mag- 
nificent temple. 

Pythagoras established a very rigid music school in 
which no one was permitted to sing under five years of 
study, and when graduated, or rather admitted, each was 
clothed in white in token of the purity of song. Each 
pupil was required to soothe himself to sleep by the use of 
the lyre, and also to strengthen himself for his duties in 
the morning in the same way. 

Here is a crumb of comfort for those who are not musi- 
cal. At the banquets in Athens it was expected that 
every guest would take the cithera and chant or play a 
song, original or otherwise, and when the cithera was 

128 



handed to Themistocles he was unable to proceed, and 
when the guests were jeering him he replied, "It is true, 
I do not know how to play the cithera, but I know how 
to raise an insignificant city to a position of glory." ^ Now 
we give an item somewhat severe on the professionals. 
An Athenian once played to Dorian, a representation of a 
storm at sea, and then asked him how he liked it, he re- 
plied, "I have seen a better storm in a pot of boiling 
water." Thus a tempest in a teapot is over 2,000 years 
old. Here is an item for composers. At a mule race in 
Athens the rider applied to Simonides to write him a tri- 
umphal ode, and he replied, "I don't sing about mules." 
But being persuaded, he adroitly began by speaking of the 
mule's better lineage thus : "Hail ! O ye daughter of the 
stormy footed horse." 

One of the most popular of the Grecian poets and mu- 
sicians was Pindar, whose services were sought for by 
many a king and prince. The tragedies were a kind of 
songs whose composers and performers were often re- 
warded by the presentation of a goat, indeed the word 
tragedy is from tragos, a goat and ode a song, hence a 
tragedy is a goat song. Wonderful music has a goat! 
Here is an item for the musical director. In those early 
times he did not as now use the baton, but he wore a 
pair of heavy iron shoes with which he marked the time. 
We read of blind Homer wandering through the streets 
reciting his poetry and song, and we hear of Orphetfs 
with his magic power entrancing mountains, trees and 
stones until they follow him. 

Music hath charms to soothe the savage beast, 
To soften rocks or bend the knotted oak, 
I rea^ that things inanimate have moved 
And as with living souls have been informed 
By magic numbers and persuasive sound. 

It is said when Orpheus struck his lyre the lurid crest 
of the serpent fell, the mane of the lion ceased to bristle, 
and the eye of the tiger ceased to glare. By the use of 
the lyre Amphion made his contemplated city rise up be- 
fore him, and form itself into shapely and stately man- 

129 



sions. One Arion who when about to be thrown over- 
board, asked the privilege of playing one more tune, and 
taking his stand on one of the rowers' benches played one 
of his sweetest tunes which called up a dolphin, and see- 
ing it he threw himself overboard and the dolphin kindly 
taking him on his back carried him safely back to his na- 
tive city. 

Roman Music 

Early Rome was not musical, but in her later days, 
however, some schools for music were established. The 
flute players formed a mutual protection society, and they 
were in the habit of taking their meals in the temple of 
Jupiter from which they found themselves one day ex- 
cluded. And like some ancient choirs (of course none 
of them are living now), they got angry and not only 
refused to play but even left the city and went to a neigh- 
boring village. The Romans went after them and tried 
to persuade them to return, as they could not conduct the 
services without them ; but they were stubborn and would 
not return. The villagers gave them a banquet at which 
they all got drunk, and the Romans came and took them 
back, and when they became sober they concluded to re- 
main. That is the first choir trouble I know of, but it 
is not the last. 

The organ was first used in Rome about A. D. ioo, and 
this hydraulic organ is said to have been invented by 
Ctesebius, of Alexandria, about 250 years B. C. They 
were not numerous in Rome, however, until about 300 
years later. They were used in the amphitheater and 
were of powerful tone. Unlike Greece, ancient Rome had 
no eminent musical composers. The return of a con- 
queror was largely a musical ovation. Under the Cae- 
sars it was greatly improved, and it is said of the Emperor 
Julian that he endeavored to antagonize the Church by 
reforming the sensual music of Rome and make it su- 
perior to the songs of the Christians, but he died before 
he succeeded, but no ancient Roman figures more prom- 
inently in music than Nero. He studied this art while 
quite young and took great pains to cultivate the power 
and tone of his voice. He would lie on his back a part 

130 



of each day with a heavy sheet of lead on his chest in 
order to increase his lung power. He took care to keep 
his stomach in good condition and never indulged in eat- 
ing fruits or pickles. He delivered all his addresses by 
proxy for fear of spoiling his voice and on all occasions 
he had his voice-master with him to caution him against 
abuse of his voice, and he was never more happy than 
when attending to matters relating to music. He first 
appeared on the stage at Naples and while singing, the 
theater was shaken by an earthquake, but he was so en- 
raptured with his own performance that he sang on to 
the end of the song, and no sooner were they all out than 
the theater fell in with a great crash and Nero praised 
the gods for his escape. He became very popular, and 
for one engagement he was offered a sum equivalent to 
$37>5oo. 

Some of his performances would last a whole day, and 
you ask how he could hold his audience so long? Be- 
sides his attraction he usually had the door locked, and 
they were compelled to remain, but some of the people, 
we are told, became tired of his vanity and would leap out 
of the window, and others feigned to faint that they might 
be carried out. He was determined to have applause from 
his audience, and for this purpose he stationed soldiers 
in the audience to compel the people to applaud him 
vociferously. When he saw Rome in flames he hastened to 
the theater and sang, The Destruction of Troy, and hence 
the proverb, Nero fiddled while Rome was burning. He 
took a tour through Greece and appeared in contest 
in their theaters and he won by flattery and bribery. At 
one time his opponent could not be bought, and his sol- 
diers fearing Nero's defeat drove the contestant to the 
wall and killed him and took the prize. He brought 
home 1800 prizes. At last his entire army turned against 
him and called him That pitiful harper. Almost his last 
words before his suicide were: "Alas! what an artist the 
world is now to lose/' Was ever vanity greater ! It hav- 
ing been arranged by himself 500 musicians celebrated his 
funeral obsequies. 



131 



CHAPTER XII 



CHURCH MUSIC AND MUSIC 
POWER 

Eusebius says that St. Mark taught the first Egyptian 
Christians how to chant their prayers, and Chrysostom 
affirms that the Apostles wrote the first Christian hymns. 
The early Christians did not copy so much from the dif- 
ficult Greek music as from the simpler Jewish chant. At 
the evening meal the twenty-third Psalm was usually 
chanted, and when at their agapa or love feasts, the water 
was being passed, they either sung from the Scripture or 
an original hymn or song, and the best of these original 
hymns were preserved and repeated on following occas- 
ions and became the songs of the early Christians. No 
doubt the Hebrew Psalmody was also continued for some 
time. The younger Pliny A. D. 203, spoke of the Chris- 
tians as meeting before sunrise on stated days and sing- 
ing in turn verses in praise of Christ as God. In the days 
of Origen A. D. 250 all the congregation sang together, 
and Chrysostom says, Young and old, rich and poor, 
men and women, slaves and citizens, all of us formed but 
one melody. This congregational singing was abolished 
by the Synod of Antioch, A. D. 379, and only men were 
allowed to sing. The council of Laodicea A. D. 481, or- 
dained that only the clerks should be allowed to sing dur- 
ing the service. Pope Sylvester I., A. D. 320, established., 
a school for training singers in Rome and he gave the 
choir a gallery and brought in sculpture and painting after 
the pagan drama. 

In the Syrian church was one Ephraem Syrus now call- 
ed in the East the Harp of the Holy Spirit. He was con- 

133 



verted at 1 8, and became a great hymn writer and com- 
poser of music. He wrote on the Nativity, Paradise, 
Faith and the Church and many of his hymns have been 
translated by German authors. St. Ambrose, bishop of 
Milan, took an active part in the development of music, 
and he copied more from the Greek style of music than 
any before him had done, and he especially endeavored 
to reform the method of singing hymns and anthems. 
He composed many beautiful hymns and chants and the 
composition of Te Deum Laudamus has been ascribed to 
him, and also to others, but its real author is unknown. 

The next great author was St. Gregory the Great, the 
author of those chants which bear his name. He founded 
a music school in Rome of sufficient size to occupy two 
large edifices and he abolished the Greek nomenclature 
and substituted the first seven letters of the Roman al- 
phabet as we have them at this day. So highly was Gre- 
gory venerated at Rome that one of his music books was 
chained to the altar of St. Peter to fix the standard of 
tone forever. From Gregory to Charlemagne, that is 
from 500 to 900, a period of about 400 years very little 
progress was made, this being the period of the dark ages. 

Charlemagne, a great lover of music gathered about him 
a large number of literary and musical friends and he was 
so skilled in music that he often conducted the court 
music in person, but in church music he was not skilled 
and he requested the pope of Rome to send him music 
teachers and the pope sent twelve, the number of the 
apostles, but he was not pleased with their singing and 
he had the pope to recall them, and the pope punished 
them for their failure or treachery, as it was supposed 
that they did not wish to teach their songs to that people. 
Other masters were sent and thus the French music was 
made to conform to that at Rome. Heubald, a monk in 
Flanders, born about 840, made the first practical effort 
to fix notes permanently, and we owe to him the germ 
of the idea of the modern clef and staff, but others before 
and since have laid claim to the honor of this invention. 

We must here mention another important name of 
those early times, Guido of Arezzo. He devoted himself 
specially to reading music at sight. He lived about 1030, 

134 



and an author says his work has had more influence in 
shaping modern music than any before him. He seemed 
especially interested in training choirs and developing 
church music, and he said, "At the service of God it too 
often sounds, not as if we were praising Him, but as if 
we were quarreling and scolding among ourselves.' , The 
convent, however, because of his severity (I wonder if 
music teachers have always been cross) ruled him out, but 
the pope called him to Rome to take charge of his choirs. 

The songs of the Druids, the original inhabitants of 
Wales, have gone into oblivion, but the songs of the 
Welsh bards have come down traditionally to this day. 
These bards were divided into two classes, poets and mu- 
sicians, and each of these also were divided into three 
classes. The first of the poet bards were prophets and 
diviners, the second were to chant the virtues of heroes 
and the third wrote the national annals and prescribed 
the laws of social life. The first class of musicians were 
harpers and were called Doctors of Music, the second 
played on stringed instruments and the third were sing- 
ers. It required nine years to acquire the highest de- 
gree in the art. 

The Irish claim to be the founders of the Welsh bard 
system, but it seems more probable that the Irish bor- 
rowed from the Welsh. The early Irishman had an apti- 
tude in performing on instruments of music, it is said, not 
found in any other nation. These bards were sorely per- 
secuted, especially during the reign of Elizabeth, who 
caused them all to be arrested and executed because they 
were supposed by their songs to foment a rebellious 
spirit. The harp was the national instrument in Wales 
and Ireland. 

The Scottish and English bards were similar to those 
of Ireland and Wales. 

Troubadours and Minnie Singers 

The rise of chivalry in the Middle Ages marks a new 
era in music. Woman was suddenly elevated from a low 
condition to be almost worshipped, certainly to be highly 
adored, and hence arose the troubadours and minnie sing- 
ers, and many of these were knights who exerted them- 

135 



selves to their utmost by the use of poetry and song to 
pay homage to woman. These troubadours originated in 
the south of France, but spread rapidly into different parts 
and they composed and sang their own songs, but the ac- 
companiment was given by hired musicians. These were 
mostly love songs and sung to married ladies in praise of 
their charms and beauties, and severely satirized the 
graces of all other dames. Their good husbands often 
encouraged these flatteries, but sometimes they awakened 
a green-eyed monster and murder followed. These love 
singers went from court to court and moved in the high- 
est circles and were greatly sought after by the fairest 
ladies of the times, and even kings and nobles became 
troubadours and they often received munificent gifts, such 
as richly caparisoned horses, but this style of music was 
at last run down by a low class of jugglers. 

The minnie singers originated in Germany in the latter 
part of the twelfth century, and these, too, were simply 
love singers. In grace and diction their songs were su- 
perior to the troubadours, and they played their own ac- 
companiments on the viol. They originated and revived 
many fables, tales and sayings, some of which have come 
down to our day, such as the following : 

Don't set the wolf to guard the sheep. 

Never borrow trouble. 

The king must die. 

And so must I. 

The music of the songs, We wont go home till morn- 
ing, and also He's a jolly good fellow, was as popular then 
as now, and the latter was a favorite in the time of the 
Crusades and resounded before the walls of Jerusalem. 

With the commencement of the Reformation the mu- 
sic of Germany was greatly improved, and this largely 
through the personal agency of Luther, who was both a 
correct composer and a skillful performer. The night 
before he was to appear before the Diet of Worms to 
make his great defense of Protestantism he spent the 
most of that night playing on his lute in order to give 
composure and firmness to his thoughts. His high esti- 
mate of music is expressed as follows : 

"I am not ashamed to acknowledge that next to di- 

136 



vinity there is no study which I prize so highly as that of 
music/' It is well known that the Wesleys were great 
poets and musicians. John Wesley urged his ministers 
to preach frequently on singing and exhort every one in 
the congregation to sing. He published several works 
on music and some of them were adapted to musical in- 
struments. 

Of Handel, to whom the musical world owes much, it 
is said he had both a temper and an appetite equally fright- 
ful, and when he came in contact with conceited singers 
there was sure to be trouble. He could not bear a pre- 
tending musician. He once had in his employ a young 
lady who had the sweetest of voices, but a most violent 
temper; of course there would be an explosion. She re- 
fused to sing the part assigned her, and Handel rushed for 
her to throw her out of the window, and she quickly said, 
I'll sing. Rossini had also his troubles. A man sent 
him a miserable opera which it was his duty to set to mu- 
sic, and he retaliated by writing 1 a miserable score to the 
words. In the overture during the allegro he marked so 
that the violinists stopped at each bar and tapped the 
shades of their tin lamps with their fiddle bows, at which 
the audience almost literally brought down the house. 
Without mentioning other worthy names, it must be ad- 
mitted that modern Rome has been the center from which 
this and all the arts have radiated. 

The Italians are the inventors of some and the perfec- 
tors of most of the instruments of the modern orches- 
tra. The resources of these instruments were developed 
in Italy, and the earliest great performers on them were 
Italians. Not only were the oratorio and opera born and 
and bred in Italy, but the same authority says every dis- 
tinct form of musical composition, instrumental as well as 
vocal is the invention of Italians. This is certainly high 
praise. Music was first introduced into England from 
Italy and into Germany and France from Italy. Mr. Bill- 
ings, a native of Boston, is said to be the father of choirs, 
singing schools and concerts in the United States. He 
rendered excellent service to the Colonies during the 
Revolution by composing songs and tunes calculated to 
inspire patriotism and urge the colonial soldiers on to 

137 



victory. Now we can scarcely begin the catalogue of 
worthy names of such as have done much to improve and 
diffuse the musical art. They are among the benefactors 
of our race and the memory of their names will ever be as 
fragrant as the breath of morning. Of Handel, again 
speaking, we may note the following incident. Having 
occasion to prepare for rendering one of his oratorios in 
England, he looked about him for skilled singers and 
players to complete the orchestra and chorus; and one 
and another having come highly recommended they were 
all called to practice. Handel says: "Gentlemen, you all 
read manuscript?" "Yes/' they all responded. One man 
says, "We play in the church." "Very well, play dis," 
says Handel, as he distributed a piece of music and retired 
to a distant part of the room and listened a while. En- 
during their horrid discord no longer he rushed forward 
and snatching the music out of their hands he says, "You 
say you blay in de church? Very well, you may blay in 
de church; for we read de Lord is long-suffering and of 
great kindness, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin, 
you may blay in the church, but you shall not blay for 
me." The idea that any kind of music will do for the 
church should be banished at once and forever. We 
ought to have the best that can be furnished. What we 
want is not operatic, not even that kind now fashionably 
called artistic, but church music. If I may be allowed to 
offer another criticism it would be this, that we want more 
of that grand old majestic kind of music of the old Ger- 
man and English style. 

We often spoil the sentiment of the hymn by chopping 
the tune up into fashionable tidbits. I have some 
where seen in print this illustration. The choir was ren- 
dering that portion of the Psalm saying, "He shall be 
clothed with righteousness," etc. One part sang, He 
shall be clothed; another sang, He shall be clothed; and 
another sang, He shall be clothed, and so on until the 
critic says he was really afraid the poor fellow would 
never get his clothes on at all. We should be careful not 
to spoil the sentiment of the hymn by the tune. 

138 



Southern Plantation Music 

Any treatment especially of the romance in music which 
did not allude to the negro melodies of the South would 
certainly be considered very imperfect, as no race is by 
nature more musical than the negro race. It has been 
supposed by some that a people given to proverbial say- 
ings is a nation not given to music, as the proverbs are 
supposed to spring from the intellect and the music from 
the emotions. We have long suspected that could the 
proverbs uttered by the negro race, especially those of 
the Southern plantations, be collected they would equal 
those of any nation not even excepting the witty Irish- 
man himself. 

Some of these sayings have come under our notice, and 
the following are specimens : 

Ole man know All died las' year. Save de pacin mar, 
for Sunday. Dem wat knows too much sleeps under the 
ash-hopper, that is lie, you know. Empty smoke-house 
makes de pullets holler. Rooster makes more racket dan 
de hen wat lays de egg. Nigger dat gets hurt worken 
ought to show de scars. One-eyed mule can't be handled 
on de blind side. You can hide the fire, but wat you gwine 
to do wid de smoke? 

But this race is musical as well as proverbial. True, 
but few of the race have yet risen to very marked dis- 
tinction in this art, yet it is considered a characteristic 
of the race to be musical. You can find many white peo- 
ple who cannot sing, but it is very rare to find a colored 
person who cannot sing. It should be remembered, how- 
ever, that many of the songs known as negro melodies are 
out the compositions of white men, and were never known 
among the colored race at any time. A collection of pure 
native melodies, especially as sung on the Southern plan- 
tations in the time of slavery, would be a volume of curi- 
osities worth preserving for coming generations. 

A few of these melodies we have collected, but will pre- 
sent here brief extracts. At their religious meetings the 
following was sung with great enthusiasm : 

Oh whare shill we go when de great day comes 

Wid de blowin er de trumpets an de bangin er de drums, 

How many poor sinners will be kotched out late 

139 



En fine no latch ter de golden gate! 

No use fer ter wait till ter-morrer! 

De sun musnt set on yo sorrer 

Sin's ez sharp as a bamboo brier — 

O Lord fetch de mourners up higher 

When de nations er de earf is a standin all aroun 

Who's a gwineter be chosen fer ter war de glory crown, 

Who's a gwine fer ter stan stiff-kneed en bol 

And answer to der name, at de callin of de roll. 

You better come now ef you comin — 

Ole Satan is loose en a bummin — 

De wheel er destruckshun is a hummin 

Oh, come along sinner ef you comin. 

The following may be heard yet at some of their camp 
meetings and is often attended with great emotion : 

Oh, de woril is roun en de woril is wide — 

Lord member dez chillun in de mornin — 

Hits a mighty long ways up de mountain side 

En dey aint no place fer dem sinners fer ter hide 

En dey aint no place whar sin kin abide 

When de Lord shall come in de mornin! 

Look up an look aroun, 

Fling yo burden on de groun 

Hit's a gitten mighty close on ter mornin ! 

Smoove away sin's frown — 

Retch up en git de crown 

Wat de Lord wil fetch in de mornin ! 

They seemed to have known pretty well who were reap- 
ing the profits of their toil, hence they sung: 

De old bees make the honey comb, 
De young bees make de honey, 
De niggers make de cotton en de corn 
En de wite folks gits de money. 

Some of their songs were, no doubt, poor paraphrases 
on the hymns which they heard sung by the white people. 
The following is a verse of a hymn which has an applica- 
tion in more places than in the South : 

De big Bethel church! de big Bethel church! 
Done put ole Satan behine um ; 
Ef a sinner git loose fum enny udder church 
De big Bethel church will fine him. 

140 



We prophesy that this race will one day become dis- 
tinguished for its culture in music, as they already have 
by nature two most essential elements for success, cor- 
rectness of time and purity of voice. Their present lack 
of critical ability will develop no doubt as their general 
culture shall be improved. 

Let us now speak of a few of the most famous charac- 
ters among the colored race. Elizabeth Taylor Green- 
field, popularly known as the Black Swan, was a native 
of Mississippi, but early in life she was brought to Phila- 
delphia and well educated in music. She made her 
first public appearance in Buffalo, N. Y., and from thence 
her popularity as a cantatrice arose rapidly and she was 
soon called to other cities. She then visited Europe and 
sang in Dublin and London and at Buckingham palace 
before the Queen, and from whom she received great 
praise. She had a voice of remarkable compass, sweet- 
ness and power. She died in Philadelphia 1876, aged 68. 
Another noted character is Joseph White, a composer 
and violinist, a native of Cuba. In 1855 he went to Paris 
and became a pupil of Gottschalk, and at a contest in 
1856, won the first prize as a violinist over sixty com- 
petitors. He was associatied with Rossini and other em- 
inent composers. He went to Spain and played before 
the Queen from whom he received many valuable pres- 
ents. In 1867 he was considered the most distinguished 
violinist in the French school. In 1876 he visited the 
United States and performed in New York and Boston, 
and always before large audiences, and then returned to 
Paris. I need only refer to the famous Jubilee Singers 
who have sung all over the United States, in Great Brit- 
ian and on the Continent and were without doubt the 
most popular troupe of modern times. We must here 
notice perhaps the greatest musical prodigy of any age, 
and he is commonly known as Blind Tom. His proper 
name is Thomas Greene Bethune, and he is said to have 
played about 7,000 pieces, and played readily any piece 
he had ever heard. He was of pure Negro blood and 
was born blind in Georgia, 1849. He began to show signs 
of musical talent when only two years old, and when four 
years old a piano was brought to the house, and it having 

141 



been left open, the next morning they heard Tom repeat- 
ing the pieces which had been played the night before* 
At eight years of age he made his first public appearance 
in his native city, Columbus, Ga. When between five or 
six years of age he obtained partial sight, and ever since 
was able to recognize very bright objects when brought 
close to the eye. He had performed in most of the large 
cities of the United States, England, Scotland and 
France. His secrets of power were a most perfect ear 
and a wonderful memory, so that he was able to repro- 
duce any piece however difficult without previous study 
or practice. He had been often tested by musical experts, 
but never failed. Music in an eminent degree was to him 
a natural talent. 

When Henry Clay was on a visit to the White Sulphur 
Springs he asked the colored band to play the Virginia 
Reel, and he was informed that they did not know it* 
He took the band to one side and whistled in a low tone 
the music and the band then struck up the music and Clay- 
had the privilege of enjoying his favorite dance. 

Power of Music 

The sense of hearing in most animals is very acute, and 
the tolling of a bell will cause many a dog to howl pite- 
ously, and the tiny mouse living in the hut of the Alpine 
herdsman will come out at evening time to listen to his 
whistle or evening song. In ancient times the grazing 
herds were attracted and guided not as now by voice, but 
by the shrill notes of the shepherd's horn. It is well 
known to showmen that the dull, lazy, inanimate elephant 
is passionately moved by warlike music, but soft, gentle 
music soothes him into lamb-like docility and cheerful 
obedience. The lion, the king of the forest, is easily con- 
trolled by music. Some scientific men of London once 
gave this matter a severe test, and a fine specimen of a 
lion was caged in the tower of London, and they withheld 
food from him for many days until he was ravenous with 
hunger; then a band of musicians was procured and sta- 
tioned near by, but out of the sight of the lion. A piece 
of meat was thrown into the cage, and before it reached 
the floor it was fast in the jaws of the beast. The band 

142 



struck up and he dropped his meat and listened. They 
paused and he at once commenced his meal, and they 
struck up a tune again and he stopped again and as often 
as they did this it was attended with like results. Thus 
was it proved that music had power to attract a famishing 
beast when the food was just at his mouth. But the 
horse is especially sensible of its power. We read in an- 
cient history that the Libyan horses would never be hand- 
led only when soothed by gentle music. The Sybarites 
taught their horses to dance to music, and at one time 
when these horses bore their gallant riders into battle 
they heard their well-known dancing tune coming from 
the ranks of the enemy, and the horses at once set to 
dancing instead of fighting. It is said that the eccentric 
Lord Holland used to give his horses weekly concerts of 
music, and during our late war it was more than once ob- 
served how well the horses understood the bugle's sound 
for war, and without word or rein from the rider would 
fall into battle-line, and although jaded before, they were 
then full of mettle and rejoicing in their strength. But 
note the power of music upon man. 

Therapeutic Power of Music 

From the days of Pythagoras to the present time there 
have been those who have believed in the therapeutic 
power of music, and indeed music as a remedy for disease 
dates from the origin of medicine. The confidence of the 
ancients in the medicinal effects of music may have been 
entirely too strong, especially when they claim that it has 
cured the rheumatism, the gout, the plague, the bite of 
reptiles and hydrophobia. It was customary in the be- 
ginning of the seventeenth century for large bands of mu- 
sicians to traverse Italy during the summer months to 
cure the diseases caused by the bite of tarantula, a kind 
of spider. They had different kinds of music to suit differ- 
ent forms of\this disease and there is authority in favor of 
the successes they achieved. 

Burton, an eminent physician, says, "Besides the excel- 
lent power it hath to expel many other diseases it is a sov- 
ereign remedy against despair and melancholy, and will 
drive away the devil himself." Instead of fighting the devil 

143 



with fire, then let us fight him with music. Another phy- 
sician, Porta, claimed that instruments made of medicinal 
plants and trees would give out sounds endowed with 
therapeutic powers the same as the plants and trees of 
which they were made. This is certainly the extreme of 
"Similia similibus curantur." In the early days of elec- 
tricity a similar idea obtained in Italy. This practice was 
called 'Tntonnacture/' and it consisted of sending the 
sparks to the body through a tube in which was placed 
some medicinal agent and which was supposed to dyna- 
mize the spark with the same medicinal force as possessed 
by the medicinal agent. Recently a Paris physician has 
discovered different properties of wood by which he has 
enriched the science of xylotherapy, and his conclusions 
are very like those of the Italian. A certain French phy- 
sician gives an authentic account of how his own child 
was relieved of constant pain and cured of insomnia by 
the sound of the flute. Pliny had long before claimed 
that the sound of the flute would cure sciatica, and sing- 
ing in a minor key was found to succeed well. An emin- 
ent musician was cured of a violent fever by hearing a 
concert in his room. Bourdois relates the following most 
remarkable incident. A young lady was dying of a fever 
on the 1 8th day. All the signs of death were present and 
Bourdois on leaving the room caught sight of a harp and 
it occurred to him to make the experiment. An excellent 
harpist was fortunately at hand, and he commenced play- 
ing, and for thirty long minutes no change was observed, 
but ten minutes later the breathing improved. The 
musician redoubled his efforts, and a warm glow began to 
be felt in the cold limbs, the pulse became full and regu- 
lar, she bled at the nose eight ounces of blood, she re- 
covered her speech and in a few days was convalescent. 
Buretti declares that music had the power of affecting the 
whole nervous system so as to give sensible ease in a large 
variety of disorders and in some cases a radical cure. 

Even in modern times in many lunatic asylums music is 
a standard element in the treatment of many disorders. 
How much power the mind has either in producing or 
throwing off disease has never been fully estimated, but 

144 



we suspect it much greater than commonly supposed. 
Relieve the mind and in many cases disease will disap- 
pear. 

Music exalts each joy, allays each grief; 
Expels diseases, softens every pain, 
Subdues the rage of poison and of plague, 
And hence the wise of ancient days adored 
One power of Physic, Melody and song. 

There is nothing that so effectually relieves melancholy 
as music. This was the great torment of Luther's life. 
He tried different methods for relief. He believed it was 
caused by Satanic power and in no way could he so suc- 
cessfully chase away this blue devil as by the use of his 
lute. He believed that the devil hated sweet music as he 
hated the light and nothing was so successful in baffling 
the wiles of the tempter as sweet music. 

The king of Spain was once living almost without the 
signs of life in a dark chamber being enveloped in melan- 
choly that had thus far defied all methods of relief. The 
famous Italian tenor singer, Farinelli, was sent for and 
the physicians requested him to sing in an outer room 
which he did a day or two^without apparent effect. But 
at length it was observed that the king was partially 
aroused from his stupor and became a listener. The next 
day it was observed that tears were in his eyes ; the next 
day he ordered the door of his room kept open, when at 
last the medicinal voice of Farinelli effected what no 
other medicine could accomplish. This is like another 
account given of a despairing sufferer whose spell was 
broken by the music which a slave played on a harp. 

At last a slave bethought him of his harp; 
The harper came and tuned his instrument. 
At the first notes irregular and sharp 
On him her flashing eyes a moment bent, 
Then to the wall she turned as if to wrap 
Her thoughts from sorrow though her breast was rent. 
Anon her thin wan fingers beat the wall 
In time to his old tune, 
And in a gushing stream 

The tears rushed forth from her o'er-clouded brain 
Life mountain-mists at length dissolved in rain. 

145 



Schiller says; 

Now such a voice 

Will drive away from me the evil demon 

That beats his black wings close above my head. 

It may not be considered therefore strange that David 
with his harp chased away the evil spirit from Saul, or 
that the hand of the Lord came upon Elisha at the sound 
of the sWeet ministrel. Dr. Kane writes that while ice- 
bound in the Arctic seas his men were saved from despair 
and from probable death by one man having an old vio- 
lin which he frequently played. Napoleon in crossing 
the Alps came to a pass where the rocks seemed insur- 
mountable by the ammunition wagons, and having urged 
and intreated the men in vain to go forward he went to 
the leader of the band and selecting a piece of music from 
his portfolio,, he says, "Play that," and no sooner was 
the tune struck up than over the rocks went the wagons 
and on went the army to victory. 

At a critical moment at the battle of Waterloo, Wel- 
lington observed that the Forty-second Highlanders be- 
gan to waver, and inquiring into the cause of this so un- 
usual event, he was told that the band had ceased to play. 
He gave orders that all the pipes be played in full force, 
and the effect was magical. The wavering columns rallied 
and solid and invulnerable as a stone wall they moved 
steadily forward to win probably the hardest contested 
field of battle in history. Every important nation has its 
own national air, and nothing is dearer to the native bora 
than their own inspiring national song. When the Cale- 
donian emigrants pushed off from the shores of Scotland 
as the bagpipes played in solemn tone, "We return, we re- 
turn no more/' the big tears ran down over their rugged 
cheeks. The Swiss soldiery weep and tremble if in a for- 
eign land they hear their own song of their lovely milk- 
maids. The British soldier willingly dies upon the field 
of battle if he can but hear his national anthem, "God 
save the king." If the American soldier can hear above 
the din and shock of battle the glorious "Star Spangled 
Banner" floating on the breeze, he rushes bravely on 

146 



through the thickest fury of the fight, either to a glorious 
victory or a heroic death. 

But let it not be supposed that sacred music has no 
power to compare with this. It has power to make even 
a king weep. At one time in London the choir^and or- 
gan welled forth that old tune, Messiah; there stood 
George III, surrounded by his numerous courtiers, while 
the big tears rolled down over his face until his royal robe 
was spotted with the falling tears. Milton's description 
of the power of music is without a parallel : 

"I was all ear 

And took in strains that might create a soul 
Under the ribs of Death." 

Henry Ward Beecher once said that the Presbyterians 
preached men to heaven, and the Methodists sung them 
there. Nothing has been more efficient than soul-stir- 
ring song, and we have no doubt that song has sung many 
a soul out of dark despair into the light of hope. It has 
cheered the heart and quickened the footsteps of many a 
weary pilgrim on his way to the Promised Land. I have 
no doubt that sacred music has borne on its ethereal pin- 
ions many a soul to the Paradise of God who otherwise 
would have gone staggering down the dark stairway to 
the dark gates of dark despair. We must have as good 
music in our homes as can be found elsewhere. We must 
have as good music in our churches as can be heard else- 
where, then will our churches be attractive and powerful 
for good. We have seen its power elsewhere, let us con- 
trol and utilize it here. We have seen it cheering men in 
worldly battles, let it cheer them on in the battles of the 
Lord. 

This art with all its wonderful achievements in the past 
is, as we think, yet in its infancy; and it is perhaps more 
so of this art than of any of the other fine arts. It has 
greater difficulties to encounter, and not the least of which 
is because of its ethereal nature. Man more readily de- 
velops the material than the immaterial, the formal than 
the ethereal. 

But music has been tardy in its progress for another 

147 



great reason, viz., that although it is dependent to a large 
extent upon mathematics, yet it has its greater difficulty 
in one of the most occult of all sciences, that of acoustics 
or the laws of sound. Yet despite all these difficulties it 
has received a more general impulse in these days than in 
any former period of its history, and as indicative of this, 
more instruments of music have been sold during the past 
twenty-five years than perhaps for a hundred years, and 
never were so many music books published and so many 
conservatories established as now. Music must now form 
a prominent part of nearly every public entertainment, re- 
ligious and secular, and no art has a more grand future 
just opening up to it than this. Our musical conventions 
and national jubilees of song and thundering anvil chor- 
uses are but faint prophecies of what the future will be, and 
the time is near at hand when the music teacher will be 
looked upon as he should be as a public benefactor, and 
his work will be regarded as necessary, and not useless, 
as laborious, and not easy, as worthy of all honor, and 
not dishonor. And the student who gives attention to 
this art will not be supposed as idling away his time and 
squandering his father's money ; as too indolent to toil or 
too delicate for anything else ! No, he will be thought 
of as cultivating the highest and purest part of his nature, 
the emotional, the soul. Not only will these false no- 
tions concerning the teacher and the taught be abandon- 
ed, but the theory and practice of music will doubtless be 
much improved. Doubtless the method of writing mu- 
sic will be as much abbreviated as the short-hand writing 
now abbreviates the long hand, and as the round notes 
are an improvement over the old fashioned buckwheat 
notes, and perhaps we will then have figures or points in- 
stead of notes of any kind. 

The methods of teaching will no doubt be so simplified 
that the pupil will learn readily in a few weeks that which 
now requires quarters to complete, and at such a severe 
tax upon the patience both of the teacher and pupil. 
And the coming instruments of music will be as much su- 
perior in tone and power as are now the sweet notes of 
the piano or cabinet organ superior to the croaking notes 
of the accordeon or the grating sounds of the old banjo ! 

148 



The present rivalry in the instruments must rapidly de- 
velop a high degree of perfection. In that near-coming 
time song also will share in culture in sweetness and in 
power. There is to be more than one Jenny Lind, more 
than one Parepa Rosa, more than one Christina Nilsson, 
we shall have a multitude of them. People will then also 
learn that in order to make song the most effective and 
accomplish its highest mission it must be with distinctness 
of enunciation accompanied by the instrument. It can- 
not be denied that there is power in instrumental music; 
that there is melody in the warble of birds, and if they do 
use words of their own kind would we not enjoy their 
songs much more if we could understand those words? 
Who has not said as he has stood by the piano as the 
keys have been touched by the fairy ringers of the well 
trained maid, "it almost speaks"? He means that if it 
would speak his delight would be at its highest pitch, that 
would be perfection's height. This is natural, this is rea- 
sonable. If this is so, then how unnatural and un- 
reasonable is that kind of singing which intentionally 
smothers the words and amounts to a mere chatter? O 
how much of the lofty sentiment of sound poetry is thus 
strangled outright ! It is that singing which speaks the 
words properly and distinctly which will have the greatest 
power, and power is the result to be obtained. The sing- 
ing of those men who have thrilled the hearts of the peo- 
ple of the two most enlightened nations of the world, and 
whose songs have moved more hearts with good impulses 
than any others in this or perhaps of any other day, have 
done so largely by the soul they put into the singing 
and with the distinctness of utterance of lofty sentiment. 
Simply the tune, then, without the accompanying clear 
enunciation of the words will be in a degree less effective. 
It appears then perfectly logical that for song to be the 
most effective the instrument and the voice must be com- 
bined ; the voice to speak the words and the instrument to 
guide and assist the voice, and whatever will produce the 
greatest and best effects should be desired by all. Per- 
sons of evil design have long understood and used this 
secret of power; hence in most places of sinful pleasure 
the instrument and sometimes the accompanying voice 

149 



arc employed to enchant the youth away from the path of 
virtue. And in this respect shall the children of this 
world be wiser than the children of light? O, let us bor- 
row wisdom from our adversaries and combine instru- 
ment, voice and soul that we may attract and hold and 
melt and mould the hearts of the people into the lovely 
image of Christ. 

We have seen music like a siren wooing and ruining 
men, let us see it now like an angel winning and saving 
them. 

Listed into the cause of sin 
Why should a good be evil ? 
Music alas ! too long has been 
Pressed to obey the devil. 

Drunken or lewd or light the lay 
Flowed to the souls undoing 
Widened and strewed with flowers the way 
Down to eternal ruin. 

Who on the part of God will rise 
Innocent sound to recover? 
Fly on the prey and take the prize, 
Plunder the carnal lover. 

Strip him of every melting measure 
Music in virtue's cause retain 
Rescue the holy pleasure. 

Come let us try if Jesus' love 
Will not as well inspire us 
This is the theme of those above; 
This upon earth shall fire us. 

Say, if your hearts are tuned to sing, 
Is there' a subject greater? 
Harmony all its- strains may bring 
Jesus' name is sweeter. 

Jesus the soul of music is, 
His is the noblest passion, 
Jesus' name is joy and peace, 
Happiness and salvation. 

Jesus' name the dead can raise, 
Show us our sins forgiven, 
Fill us with all the life of grace 
Carry us up to Heaven. 

150 



To music was the world made and to music shall it be 
dissolved. To music did Jesus come to earth and to mu- 
sic shall he come again. To solemn music we bury our 
dead and to angelic music shall they rise, and to music 
shall they be escorted to their homes on high amid the 
choruses and Hosannas of that musical world. 

"Hail heaven born music ! by thy power we raise 
The uplifted soul to acts of highest praise. 

"I would die with music melting round, 
Then float to bliss upon a sea of sound. 
And as upward I glide 
Hark ! the harps of God are singing 
Hark ! the seraphs lyre is ringing, 
And the living rills are flinging music 
On immortal air." 



$ 



151 



CHAPTER XIII 



MUSICAL COMPOSITION, INSTRUMENTS 
AND COMPOSERS 

Opera , 

This form of musical composition, as the word indr- 
cates, originated in Italy. The text of the opera is called 
libretto, and the singing is accompanied by instrumental 
music. 

The opera is a modern art since it grew up in Italy at the 
beginning of the seventeenth century and first made its 
appearance in Florence about 1600. It is a part of that 
classic impulse which was given to all art and literature 
called the Renaissance, in which also a new form of archi- 
tecture spread all over Europe. The opera originated 
from a desire of rediscovering the vocal music of the 
Greek drama. 

The earliest known opera was called Eurydice, and con- 
sisted of recitative choruses, duets, and trios, together 
with an instrumental prelude and interludes, and for fifty 
years this opera remained the luxury of nobles, being per- 
formed only before courts during special festivities, but 
after a while it became a popular entertainment. 

Both the vocal and instrumental parts of the opera were 
soon greatly improved in stimulating solo singing and 
giving a fine overture, but the later Italian operas do not 
show much change in any respect. 

In France the first operas, those of Sulli at the end of 
the seventeenth century, and of Rameau, at the beginning 
of the eighteenth century, were little more than imita- 
tions of the Italian style. In fact no improvement was 

153 



made until by Gleeck (1773- 1787), who confined the vo- 
cal part with due limits, and brought the dramatic charac- 
ter forward with greater prominence. He also made the 
chorus much more conspicuous, and added greatly to the 
instrumental part of the opera. 

The Grand or Classic Opera of the French school had 
hardly taken first rank, and while this school is character- 
ized by great energy and freedom of movement, yet its 
success has been chiefly in the lighter kinds, as opera 
bouffe and opera comique. The chief composers are : 
Spontini, Meyerbeer, Rossini, Gounod, Thomas, Aubier, 
Adam and Offenbach. 

In Germany the opera is marked by but little national 
originality, and earliest writers did but little more than 
carry out the Italian traditions. Mozart was the first 
great German opera composer, and he succeeded in unit- 
ing Italian sweetness of melody with German richness 
and power, and his operatic music has never been sur- 
passed, if indeed it has ever been equalled. 

But after Mozart, the German opera sank to a low level, 
and it was only brought up again by such eminent men as 
Spohr, Weber and Marschner who succeeded only when 
they brought into the opera those brave legendary na- 
tional subjects of which the German people are nationally 
proud. Wagner has made his great success because he 
united the German legends with the vivacity of dialogue 
and scenic splendor of the French school under Meyer- 
beer, who was perhaps one of the most brilliant of the 
operatic composers. 

The opera in the United States is rather recent to be 
said to have a history independent of foreign influence, 
and it is seriously questioned whether it is holding its 
place among public amusements. 

Oratorio 

This word is from the Latin oratorium, and refers to 
a majestic form of musical composition in which voices 
and instruments combine to portray scenes and passages 
from Biblical history. It differs chiefly from the opera, 
being sacred and not secular, and in being as a rule, un- 

154 



suited to stage or scenic representation. Sometimes the 
oratorio has been described as a sacred opera, but this is 
not strictly correct, as when the oratorio glides into the 
operatic, it ceases to be anything but operatic. 

The oratorio was born in Italy, but strange to say, 
has never been popular there. The germs of this form 
of musical composition were found in the Mysteries of 
the Middle Ages, which consisted of scenes from the 
Scriptures rudely dramatized and accompanied by some 
kind of primitive music, but the design, however, was 
benevolent, it being to entertain the peasantry and win 
them from idleness and vicious pleasures. 

St. Philip Neri, who was born in Florence, 1515, and 
who with Ignatius Loyola, had interested himself in the 
welfare of the Pilgrims, is the first known person to 
introduce the oratorio into the church. By the assistance 
of the musical director of St. Peters, he introduced songs 
in the rendering of those passages of Scripture, especially 
where dialogue and soliloquy are found. The first au- 
thentic oratorio, however, was composed by Emilio del 
Cavalieri, entitled "Soul and Body." 

From this time onward to the time of Handel in Eng- 
land, the master of oratorio, history on this subject seems 
to be very imperfect. In Paris, it was never popular, be- 
ing perhaps too heavy and sacred. 

Until the time of Handel nearly all the eminent com- 
posers of oratorios were Italians, that is running between 
1645-1710. Handel's best known works were composed 
from 1740-1751, and these were "Saul," 1740; Messiah, 
1 741 ; Samson, Judas Maccabeus, 1747, and Jephthah, 
1 75 1. He was followed by Haydn, whose master-piece, 
"The Creation," was composed in 1798. 

These masters have but one peer in more modern times, 
and that is Mendelssohn, whose St. Paul, composed in 
1836, and Elijah, 1846, are brilliant examples of his tal- 
ent in this line of composition. Indeed many lovers of 
music greet his Elijah with more enthusiasm than Mes- 
siah, regarding it as more modern, flexible and intellec- 
tual. It is more esthetic than spiritual, yet it is purely 
and thoroughly religious throughout. 

155 



Organ 

This word is of Greek origin (organon) and is a wind 
instrument of peculiar range, force and complexity in 
sound. Its historical pedigree may be traced back to the 
god Pan, who was the Greek god of flocks and pastur- 
age, and a son of Hermes by some nymph. He was half 
human and half beast, and was the inventor of pastoral 
music and he had a loud voice by which he often saved 
the wayfarer and indeed put whole armies to flight, and 
from his name comes our word panic. 

Nearly all the earliest instruments of music were wind 
instruments, hence the word organ even in the days of 
Augustine was applied to all wind-instruments. Indeed 
the organ of to-day with all its pipes and reeds is in a 
sense a compound organ, each pipe or reed being an 
independent organ, and hence for this reason it is difficult 
to fix the exact date when the organ first made its ap- 
pearance. The first organ proper was probably found 
among the Greeks of Alexandria, 200 B. C. This was a 
hydraulic organ or water-flute whose tones were sweet, 
but not powerful, and was designed solely for domestic 
amusement. 

On a Roman monument is seen a description of an or- 
gan having sixteen pipes, and situated on a table, and 
having a key-board, and played by a lady with both hands. 
These organs, however, did not become numerous in 
Rome, as we have elsewhere said until about 300 A. D. 

Organs are said to have been introduced into the 
churches in the seventh century by Pope Vitalian, but 
they were certainly used much earlier, as they were very 
common in the churches in the time of the Carlovingians. 

The Byzantine emperors often sent organs to , King 
Pepin, and Charlemagne as presents, and the first of these 
is described as a wonderful structure, having the form 
of a tree, in the branches of which were birds of various 
kinds, each giving forth its own peculiar note. Later we 
find organs which seem to us very rude indeed. The 
keys were often from four to six inches broad, and were 
struck with the fist and sometimes with the elbow, so 
that two tones could be produced at the same time. The 

156 



compass, however, was very great, having as many as 
twenty-one notes arranged according to the diatonic scale. 

In those early times they built some gigantic organs; 
for instance, in 951, one was built for Winchester, and is 
said to have contained 400 pipes, and 26 bellows, requir- 
ing 70 strong men to work them and was played by two 
performers or rather four fists. 

From the twelfth century we read of small organs, car- 
ried about strapped over the shoulder and these were 
played by one hand, and the other ^worked the bellows. 
The Italian painters of the fourteenth and the fifteenth 
centuries often represented this organ in the hands of an- 
gels instead of the harp or bugle, as we now see in paint- 
ings. 

In the fourteenth century the size of the keys were re- 
duced, so that they might be worked by the fingers in- 
stead of the fists, and soon we read of organs having 
three octaves including semi-tones. 

The development of fugue music was in the Nether- 
lands and its spread throughout Germany, Italy and 
England, gave great impulse to organ playing, and many 
volumes of these German compositions are still pre- 
served. 

In Germany the art of organ playing was diligently 
cultivated, and the family of the Kochs were the most 
distinguished, and Sebastian Bach afterwards carried this 
art to a high degree of perfection. 

In Italy during the sixteenth century organs of very 
ornamental design existed, but the great organ-builders 
of this period were from Germany and Holland. The or- 
gans of Westminster Abbey, Temple Church and Dur- 
ham Cathedral were built by a German named Schmidt. 

From the beginning of the last century what wonderful 
improvements have been made! 

One of the curiosities is the invention of a kind of string 
organ which is somewhat like an Eolian harp. Another 
is that of the steam organ, whose sound in some cases is 
said to be heard twelve miles. It is now used as a fog- 
signal, and also in the place of a chime of bells. It is 
said, however, that a monster organ, some think a steam 

157 



organ, was invented by a monk named Gerbert Sylvester, 
in 997, but steam was hardly so early applied. 

Among the largest organs still in existence we mention 
the Weingarten organ, having 66 stops and 6,666 pipes ; 
the Haarlem organ, having 6o stops ; the organ of the 
Church of St. Stephen at Pisa, having ioo stops ; the Crys- 
tal Palace organ, London, having 65 stops ; the organ in 
the Church of St. Alessandro, in Cologne, 100 stops ; the 
trancept organ, St. Paul's London, 60 stops. 

Piano 

The original name, piano forte, is of Italian origin, 
meaning both soft and loud, indicating the origin and 
compass of the instrument. The principle of the piano 
was as early as the fourth century, applied to an instru- 
ment called the clavichord and other instruments as the 
cithera, and harpsichord, and the spinet, and these were 
popular down to the eighteenth century. 

England, France, Germany and Italy have each claim- 
ed to have invented the piano, but the best testimony as- 
cribes it to Cristofali, of Padua, Italy, 1710. Marius claim- 
ed a similar invention in Paris, 1716, and Schroter in Ger- 
many, 1 71 7. It was not until 1760 that it was manufac- 
tured in England and then by Germans. 

Soon under the skill and energy of a firm named Broad- 
wood and Stodart, as English manufacturers, the piano 
was greatly improved and soon became very popular. 

The grand piano was first made 1781, the upright, 1795. 
But few pianos had been imported to the United States 
when in 1822, Jonas Chickering began their manufacture 
in Boston, and thus became the pioneer in one of the 
great American industries. It might seem invidious for 
me to even name the principal pianos now on the market 
of the world, since I might omit some which are regarded 
as superior. 

Violin 

The word is from the Italian, violino. The Anglo- 
Saxon name is fiddle. It is considered the most perfect 
musical instrument on account of its capabilities of fine 
tone and expression, and with the viola, violincello, and 

158 



bass-viol, forms the main element of all bands and or- 
chestras except brass bands. Some have supposed that 
its history can be traced back to China| long before 
the time of Christ. They were well known in England in 
the twelfth century. The most prized are those made in 
Italy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 

Drums 

The various kinds of drums are very ancient, and were 
used in heathen worship and in war. We now know three 
kinds of drums, the side drum, so named from being so 
strapped to the body as to be carried to one side, is some- 
times called the tenor or snare drum. It is called a snare 
drum because of the strings of catgut stretched across the 
lower head, and it is called a tenor drum in opposition to 
a bass drum. 

The bass drum is much larger and is beaten on both 
ends. The kettle drum is so named from its shape, being 
like the lower part of a kettle with a head set in it. It 
was formerly used almost exclusively in the army, but it 
is now mostly confined to the orchestra. In the eigh- 
teenth century a large fashionable assembly, says Smol- 
lett, was called a drum-major, from its emptiness. 

Guitar 

The guitar was known in the East from remote anti- 
quity. The Moors brought it from the East, the Span- 
iards from the Moors, and the Italians from the Span- 
iards, and in 1788 the Duchess Amelia, of Weimar, intro- 
duced it into Germany as a new instrument from the Ital- 
ians. 

Many improvements have been attempted but nearly all 
have failed. As an instrument by itself, it has not been 
of much note, mainly used in solo singing, and 
was once popular in Germany and France with the 
minne singers or troubadours, the love singers of those 
times. 

As an accompaniment to the voice it has been largely 
superseded by the piano. In private entertainments it is 
still popular with the most cultivated classes of society. 

159 



Clarionet 

Tbe clarionet was a wind instrument, invented in Nur- 
emburg 1690. In fulness and variety of tone it is the 
most perfect wind instrument. Its construction does not 
admit of every key being played on the same instru- 
ment. 

Lute 

The lute is an obsolete stringed instrument, now su- 
perseded by the harp and guitar. At first it had six 
strings, and at last twenty-four. The left hand pressed 
the stops and the right hand was free to strike the strings. 
It was once in high favor all over Europe. In the time 
of Handel, a lute was in the Italian opera in London, and 
a lutist in the King's chapel down to the middle of the last 
century. 

Lyre 

The lyre is the oldest stringed instrument of the Egyp- 
tians and Greeks, and is still used by some wandering mu- 
sicians. 

Flute 

Flutes are very ancient musical instruments. Those 
of ancient Egypt, Chaldea, Greece and Rome were blown 
into at one end, and not at the side as now. Nero was 
a famous flute player and won 18,000 prizes. Ptolemy the 
XI was a famous flute player. 

Piccolo 

The piccolo is simply a flute of the highest register. 

Bells and Chimes 

From remote antiquity bells have been used in relig- 
ious ceremonies, and from their noise on Sunday some 
have wished they had never been so introduced. Indeed 
in some places they have been declared a public nuisance, 
and the Courts have ordered that the ringing be discon- 
tinued. The great feast of Osiris, the god of Egypt, was 
commenced by the ringing of bells. Bronze bells have 

160 



been found in the ruins of Nineveh. In India and Athens 
bells were used in their ceremonies. Bells were first used 
in or on the church about 400 A. D. They were intro- 
duced into France in 550, and into England in 680, but 
not until the fourteenth century were bells of a large size 
used. In Paris in 1300 a bell was used weighing 14,000 
pounds, and another in 1472 weighing 25,000 pounds. 
The famous bell in the Rouen Cathedral was put in place 
in 1 501, and weighs 36,364 pounds. There is one at Tou- 
louse weighing 66,000 pounds. The largest bell in the 
world is the bell of Moscow, cast in 1734. During a fire 
in 1737 it fell and was cracked, but in 1837 it was raised, 
and now forms the dome of a chapel in that city. It is 
19 feet high and weighs 448,000 pounds. Another Mos- 
cow bell was cast in 1819 and weighs 16,000 pounds. 

The great bell of Pekin is 14 feet high and weighs 107,- 
000 pounds. The great bells have usually been cast 
amid religious ceremonies, and sponsors have been pres- 
ent, and the bells have been baptized, and the ringing 
of these consecrated bells have been supposed by some to 
dispel storms, pestilence and evil spirits. 

The solemn tolling of the passing bell at the time of 
death was supposed to ward off the demons which might 
gather around the dying. The Curfew bell was tolled at 
eight o'clock, it being the time to put out the lights in the 
dwellings^ and all to retire for the night. 

The chimes of bells is supposed to have reached the 
greatest perfection in the Netherlands, and the chimes of 
Normandy, and the famous bells of Shandon are well rep- 
resented in poetry and prose. 

Great Composers 

Handel 

Handel was born at Halle, February 23, 1685, and died 
in London, April 14, 1759. At eight years he was quite 
proficient, and he spent five years at music in Halle. At 
thirteen years he was sent to Berlin to study in the oper- 
atic school, and remaining but a short time, he became 
violinist at the opera at Hamburg. 

As a composer he found a rival in Mattheson, and in 

161 



a dispute Handel's bad temper led them to fight a duel. 
Mattheson's sword broke on a button on Handel's breast, 
when they were both reconciled and remained friends. 
At twenty-one he went to Florence, and now became em- 
inent as an organist and composer. He visited Vienna, 
Rome and Naples, and at twenty-five he was made chapel 
master of the elector of Saxony. 

On his visit to England in 1712, a pension of 1,000 
pounds was given him, and then he made his permanent 
residence in London. At thirty-five he was appointed di- 
rector of the Royal Academy of Music at the Haymarket 
Theater. His haughty and irritable temper made him 
many enemies, and gradually he lost his patrons, position, 
health and fortune, and passed twice through bankruptcy. 
He did not give himself to oratorio, his true work, until 
about fifty-five, when he began to rise. The first twenty- 
five years of his life he tried to become an Italian in mu- 
sic, but he was more of Saxon stuff. 

His great work, the Messiah, was written for the 
people of Dublin, and they seemed to be the first to rec- 
ognize the mastery of his genius, and by this and other 
oratorios he arose to the pinnacle of fame, and before 
his death he became the idol of the English people. He 
went blind when sixty-five, but died happy, and was buried 
in Westminster Abbey with the grandest ceremonies. He 
was a recluse and refused to be a member of any house- 
hold, but lived in a room and declined nearly all invita- 
tions. He had only three associates ; a copyist, a painter 
and a dyer, and it is said that he never loved a woman and 
was a true celibate. He at last paid all his debts, and left 
5,000 pounds to the Foundling Hospital, London, and a 
large sum to his poor relatives in Germany. He was very 
fond of pictures. His speech was a mixture of English, 
German and Italian. At times he was haughty and irritable. 
He drank wine freely. His figure was large and impos- 
ing and his walk heavy and awkward. His violent tem- 
per at times knew no restraint. The orchestra com- 
menced once without being tuned, and he rushed through 
the ranks, caught up the kettle drum and threw it at the 
leader, jumped upon the stage, lost his wig, stamped and 
choked with rage until finally calmed by the Prince of 

162 



Wales who was present. Mozart revered Handel and 
Beethoven bowed before his grandeur. 

Handel ate enormously, and when he dined at a tav- 
ern always ordered dinner for three, and when told that 
the meal would be ready as soon as the company should 
arrive, he would exclaim, "Den pring up the dinner pres- 
tissimo, I am de company." 

He was very miserly. When receiving 50 pounds a 
night from the opera, yet he would wear a shirt a month 
to save the expense of washing. 

His favorite expression was, "Vat te tevil I care." 
When urged to accept the degree of Dr. of Music from 
Oxford by paying a small fee he said, "Vat te tevil I trow 
my money away for dat vish the blockhead vish." 

John Sebastian Bach 

He was born in Eisenach, Germany, March 21, 1685, 
and is spoken of as the father of modern music. The 
Bach family for more than 200 years had been distinguish- 
ed, and more than fifty of them had become eminent in 
music. By descent he was a Hungarian. He was a north 
German and a Protestant. Early he abandoned the Ital- 
ian school of music and became an independent explorer 
and discoverer in music. And unlike most others, mu- 
sic in every style interested him and he became a com- 
poser of all kinds of music, and a performer on all kinds 
of instruments ; but he loved the organ most, and when 
a boy he walked miles to listen to a master organist. The 
greater part of his life he was court organist, a position 
that required great ability. In 1723 he was chosen mu- 
sical director of St. Thomas' School, at Leipsic, when 
thirty-eight years of age, which position he held for 
twenty-seven years. He died July 8, 1750. He had ten 
sons and all were musicians. His fame has been increas- 
ing since his death, and Haydn acknowledged him as his 
©nly model and Handel said as an organist he had no 
equal. 

Beethoven 

Beethoven, a famous composer, was born at Bonn, De- 
cember 17, 1770. His father was a good vocalist, and he 

163 



taught his son to play on the harpsichord before he was 
five years old. This was then his favorite instrument. 
He became a good composer at eleven, and at fourteen he 
was assistant organist, and at seventeen he was sent to 
Vienna to be under Mozart, whose school was then at its 
height. This became his permanent home and here he 
studied with Haydn and became a master of musical com- 
position. The piano was his chosen instrument and he 
soon rivaled the best performers. 

Compositions now came from his hands with marvelous 
rapidity, and before he was thirty years of age he pub- 
lished about thirty-five pieces. These were his happy and 
hopeful days, but they were soon clouded by misfortune, 
and in 1803 he became totally deaf, in part the result of 
serious and prolonged sickness, but the deafness came on 
slowly for some years. Now he became melancholy and 
unsociable, still his work went on, and for over twenty 
years he went on composing mostly symphonies, and in 
1824 published his Choral Symphonies, by many thought 
to be the most significant, and so regarded by himself. 
His works during this time were various and remarkable 
for their thought and feeling, and the nine symphonies 
and the grand sonatas make him immortal. 

He never married. His music is not scholastic but 
emotional, but not sentimental. He was a middle sized 
man with a massive head, broad brow, heroic counten- 
ance, wide nostrils, projecting teeth, heavy lips and high 
•cheek bones. He once let his beard grow till it was two 
feet long, and he neglected his hair until it became so 
thick and stiff that he could hardly keep his hat on, and 
his biographer says his shaggy clothes made him look 
like a bear. 

He always made his own coffee, and in a glass appara- 
tus, and religiously counted sixty beans to each cup. 
Soup was his favorite dish, but it was hard to make it to 
please him, and he said of a servant who had told him a 
falsehood, that she was not pure at heart, and therefore 
could not make good soup. He punished his cook for 
the staleness of some eggs by throwing the whole batch 
at her, one by one. 

He was one of the most absent-minded men. Once a 

164 



crowd was gathered under his window watching him, he 
having arisen from bed, and was standing in his night 
clothes meditating about chords and discords until the 
noise of the crowd below dispelled his reveries. At an- 
other time he was strolling upon the ramparts of Vienna 
with his hands clasped behind him, lost in thought, and 
only aroused by the laughter of some school boys. He 
had come from his home, and the weather cold and blus- 
tering, and he was there bareheaded and did not. know it 
till the boys told him. He forgot that he owned a horse 
until the bill was presented for his keeping. 

He would compose music while in his bath, and run 
the scale while pouring water over his body, and would 
pour floods of water on the floor, and not know it until re- 
minded of it by those below. He had such a hatred of 
etiquette that he left his boarding place because the land- 
lord would persist in bowing to him, but with all his pe- 
culiarities he will ever be esteemed as one of the great 
masters in musical composition. He died March 26, 1827. 

Haydn 

Haydn was born near Vienna, March 31, 1732, and died 
in Vienna May 26, 1809, at seventy-seven years of age. 
When five years old a teacher took him to Hamburg for 
education, and during the three years here he began to 
play on the violin and the drum, of which he was very 
fond. At eight years of age his fine voice attracted atten- 
tion, and he was taken to Vienna as chorister for the Ca- 
thedral of St. Stephens. His first effort at composing, 
when he was thirteen years of age, was laughed at by 
Reuter. His voice having naturally changed, Reuter 
turned him into the streets penniless, but a poor barber 
gave him a bed in a garret. Here he commenced his 
work in earnest, although in poverty, and his playing on a 
violin and organ attracted the attention of the public. He 
was introduced to a great Italian musician, Perfora, of 
whom he learned much. He became chapel master of a 
prince and now fortune smiled on him. 

When Haydn was about to sit down to compose he al- 
ways dressed himself with the utmost care, had his hair 
nicely powdered, and dressed in his court suit. He wrote 

165 



only on the finest paper, and was as particular in forming 
his notes as if he had been engraving them on copper. 
Frederic the Great caused a diamond ring to be given 
him, and he said he could not compose well without that 
ring on his finger. 

He still remembered the barber, and finally married his 
daughter when twenty years of age, but it was a bad 
match, and as she was exasperating, he left her, but still 
supported her. At the age of sixty he visited London 
where he was enthusiastically received. He was now 
w T orth $5,000, and five years afterward was worth 
$100,000. He returned and bought a home near Vienna 
where he died, highly honored by the citizens of Vienna. 

Haydn was small, slight and dark, and was called "the 
Moor." His face was kindly, and he was deeply devout 
and religious. At the beginning and end of each manu- 
script was some recognition of the Deity. He was a 
Catholic, and it is said that he did more to develop in- 
strumental music than any hundred of his predecessors. 
The number of his works is 800. His great oratorios are 
"The Seasons/' and "The Creation." 

Mozart 

Mozart was born at Salzbury, January 27, 1756., and 
died at Vienna, December 1, 1791, in his thirty-sixth year. 
He was regarded a musical prodigy, and played the piano 
successfully at four years of age, and composed plain 
pieces, or rather dictated them to his father. At six years 
he played on the violin and greatly pleasing the people. 

His father made tours and exhibited his two children in 
the most important cities, and at eight Mozart began 
composing symphonies used at concerts, and Handel and 
Bach became his models. The father and son traveled 
in Italy, and were everywhere attended with grand suc- 
cess. From 1777 to 1779 he resided in Paris. In 1787 
he went with the Archbishop of Salzbury as a member of 
his household to live at Vienna, which became his home. 
Here he married Constantine Weber, a pianist, and an 
accomplished lady. Now he became famous as an oper- 
atic composer, but consumption and a nervous disease 
soon began their deadly work. A mysterious messen- 

166 



ger came to him one day and begged him to write a requ- 
iem, not explaining his object, and Mozart thought from 
the first it was his own requiem. He sank rapidly and 
died while listening to its rehearsal, and on a dismal, rainy 
day, not a friend following him, he was hurried through 
the streets of Vienna to the common burying ground and 
buried in his clothes, and now his grave is unknown. 

Vienna never honored him properly. His composi- 
tions are of great variety, and he was the best pianist of 
his time in Germany. His life was less than half the us- 
ual length, but he wrote 626 public works, and 294 com- 
positions are unfinished and unpublished. 

Mendelssohn 

Mendelssohn was born at Hamburg, February 5, 1809. 
At eight years of age he could read music at sight, and 
compose correctly. He was the leader of a small or- 
chestra at home in the evenings. He was educated at 
Berlin, and at seventeen years of age he traveled through 
Scotland, England, Germany, France and Italy. At last 
Tie removed to Leipsic, established a conservatory and 
made it the leading city for music in Germany. He was 
intensely sensitive and even frolicsome in his mirthfulness. 

As a pianist he was one of the most eminent of his age. 
His oratorio, Elijah, and his Midsummer Night's Dream 
are popular, but his greatest work is St. Paul. He was 
a Jew, and with his own nation his works are especially 
popular. He died of apoplexy, November 4, 1847. 

Gleeck 

He was the predecessor of Wagner and Meyerbeer, 
and was born in the Upper Palatinate, July 2, 17 14. He 
is described as having eyes wide open, big nostrils, mas- 
sive chin, noble brow, and a large and robust frame. He 
was educated at Prague, Vienna, Milan, and then in Lon- 
don. On one occasion when Handel heard him he ex- 
claimed, "Mein Gott, he is an idiot. He knows no more 
of counterpoint than mein cook." He failed in London 
and returned to Vienna and became very successful on 
the Continent. He was in Paris in the high days of Ros- 
seau and Voltaire, and composed music to suit them and 

167 



was declared the Hercules of music. He returned to 
Vienna, where he died in 1787 by excessive use of wine. 

Lowell Mason 

He was born in Medfield, Mass., January 8, 1792. He, 
however, began his music career in Savannah, Georgia, 
in 1812, and in 1821 he published his collection of church 
music from Handel and Haydn. He removed to Boston 
in 1827 and began as teacher of vocal music. He has the 
honor of introducing music into the schools, and he es- 
tablished the Academy of Music in Boston. He was no 
critic, but became a popular teacher of popular music and 
a composer of church tunes. 

In 1837 ne visited Europe and studied in Germany and 
England. In 1855 the University of New York conferred 
on him the degree of Doctor of Music, the first of the 
kind in the United States. 

Meyerbeer 

Meyerbeer was born in Berlin, September 5, 1794, and 
died in Paris May 2, 1864. Quite early in life he was very 
proficient as a pianist. He turned to composing dramas 
under Weber and Volger, and he studied chiefly at Darm- 
stat. His Jepthah utterly failed when rendered at Mu- 
nich, as did also his other plays. He then went to Italy and 
became very popular there. He then went to Paris and 
brought out a play with the curious title, "Robert the 
Devil," which became very popular all over Europe. His 
French music is the most popular. 

SOME GREAT SINGERS 
Francesca Cuzzom 

This lady and Faustina Bordoni, Handel imported to 
London from Italy, but the first was the most popular. 
It is a wonder that it was so when we remember that she 
was ugly and ill-shaped, full of conceit and insolent, and 
had an obstinate temper. It was she who on one occas- 
ion refused to sing her part, and when Handel threatened 
to throw her out of the window. It is said that more than 

168 



one duel was fought between young men to determine 
who should escort her from the theater to the carriage. 
It seems that Handel was jealous of her and she retired 
to Vienna. 

Sophie Armoreld 

She was born in Paris, February 14, 1744. For several 
years before the French Revolution she was regarded 
as the queen of French society. 

When Benjamin Franklin was in Paris he found no 
pleasure, wit or brilliancy like he found in her salon. She 
received great flattery and became somewhat intoxicated 
by it. To a man who said to her that if he did not win 
her hand in thirty days he would blow his brains out, she 
replied that she thought that he had done that long ago. 
She once asked a man what he was thinking, and he said 
he was thinking to himself, when she replied, "Be careful, 
for you gossip with a flatterer/' She seeing a physician 
with a gun, laughed and said, "You are afraid of your pro- 
fessional resources failing." 

Henrietta Sontag 

She was born at Coblentz on the Rhine 1805. She is 
regarded as the greatest German singer of the century, 
and the Italians call her the nightingale of the north. 
Some German students at a banquet drank champagne to 
her health out of her satin slipper which they stole from 
her wardrobe. She was already famous at eight years 
of age. She was carefully trained by Weber at the con- 
servatory at Prague, and when fifteen she sang at Paris 
in place of a prima donna, and one said of her, "Had I 
her voice I would hold the whole world at my feet." 

An English Earl was greatly fascinated by her. Her 
last name, Sontag, means Sunday, and they named the 
earl Monday, because Monday follows Sunday, as he 
followed her almost everywhere. 

She was of medium height, well formed, hair light 
brown, large blue eyes, firmly moulded mouth and per- 
fect teeth. 

169 



Farinelli 

He was the greatest tenor singer of his age, and he was 
born in Naples in 1705. He was popular all over the 
continent. The enemies of Handel brought him to Lon- 
don in 1834, and he received many princely gifts. He spent 
twenty-five years at Madrid in the court of Philip V of 
Spain, and it was he who cured the king of melancholy 
by his music. He then went to Bologne and collected a 
vast gallery of paintings, from Italian and Spanish mas- 
ters. He was very tall and as thin as a shadow. 



$ 



170 



CHAPTER XIV 



TEACHERS AND TEACHING 

First of all I wish to give in brief the origin, scope and 
design of the public school work in the United States. 
You will remember that it commenced first in private in- 
struction. Church pay schools were the first schools, 
but it was soon discovered that there was a large num- 
ber of children whose parents could not pay their tuition 
and provision was made in the local community whereby 
their tuition might be paid for them and they have free 
schooling. The question expanded and they said why 
not levy a tax on the borough or township that all the 
children may be educated free? This became popular, 
and it spread throughout the States, but Pennsylvania 
and a few others were a little slow in adopting the public 
school system, but under the leadership of that great man 
Thaddeus Stevens, of the Keystone State, it was at last 
adopted. A great many people objected to it on the 
ground that it was not right that they should be taxed to 
pay for the education of other people's children. But I 
suppose there is no tax now more cheerfully paid than the 
school tax. 

When the new States were admitted into the Union, 
they were admitted by giving a promise that they would 
establish the public school system throughout the State, 
and no State has been admitted into the Union without 
such a provision. Thousands of acres of land have been 
set apart by the Government for public school purposes, 
and for the establishment of universities, colleges, agri- 
cultural and normal schools, and it has donated millions 
of money for the establishment and support of these in- 

171 



stitutions. I mention these things for the purpose of 
showing that it is an error to suppose that this Govern- 
ment has only designed to give free education to the peo- 
ple in the lower grades of school. It may be seen by 
what I have said that it was the design that we should 
have a perfect national system from the lowest primary 
up through the State college to the highest university, 
which the money of the nation could establish and perpet- 
uate. 

It was never the purpose of this nation to be dependent 
on church schools for the proper education of its citizens. 
It is known that already there is a decline in many of 
these church institutions, and female colleges especially 
may soon be among the things of the past, but those 
which are the most heavily endowed will last the longest. 
You may ask why? The reasons are obvious. When fe- 
male colleges were established, ladies were not admitted 
on equal terms with young men in the higher institu- 
tions of learning, but now nearly all institutions of any 
popular grade at least, admit them. More than that, our 
high schools have so far advanced in their course of 
study that they can furnish instruction equal to and in 
many cases superior to the instruction given in the aver- 
age female college and furnish this to the resident pupil 
free. You see, therefore, why it is that the female col- 
leges must decline ; but there are some, however, which 
will be continued by some of these denominations. Lit- 
erary and classical denominational institutions will con- 
tinue for some years to come, but in most places I would 
not advocate the establishment of any more of them. 
There is room perhaps, for a few of them yet to do work 
that is not done in the national system of education. I 
cannot see why men of different denominations should 
pay their money for the establishment of a church liter- 
ary institution. It is perfectly proper to pay their money 
for the establishment of schools where theology is to be 
taught. You will recollect they will say to you, "No mat- 
ter what your son is, if he is a Presbyterian or a Baptist, 
you can send him to the Methodist school. It don't 
matter what his religion may be/'' so I say if any young 
man can go to these institutions on an equal basis with 

172 



our Methodist boy, can you explain to me why, then, it 
is the duty oi :he church to sustain a literary institution 
simply to teach the classics and sciences? Oh! but you 
say it is necessary to have religious instruction in these 
colleges to save the young people of this country. This 
is a reflection of what is sometimes openly said of the 
State colleges and universities as being destitute of this 
religious and moral instruction, which is not the truth. 
You will recollect when I mention it that perhaps every 
president of every State college and university in the 
United States, with rare exceptions, is a minister of the 
Gospel, at least a Christian, and a majority of the in- 
structors in those institutions are church members, and 
if I were a president of one of them I would not take this 
criticism very good humoredly. 

My point is that we need to perfect our national system 
of education and then stand by it. But it is sometimes 
said that the money appropriated to support these col- 
leges and universities is not wisely spent. State appro- 
priations in other directions are not always wisely spent, 
so I read in the papers, but I believe as a rule with scarce- 
ly an exception, those institutions have wisely expended 
the funds that have been given them. You know that 
there is opposition to our system of education sometimes 
more pronounced than at others. There is a common 
ground upon which the Christian people of this country 
can stand, and I say such ground is our national system 
perfected, so that a student can start from the lowest 
grade and go up easily from one grade to another, gradu- 
ating and going to the State college and from the State 
college to the highest university in the United States. 
That is what I long to see completed, a connected na- 
tional system of education. Other nations are so proud 
of our system that they are not only studying it but copy- 
ing it in consistency with their own peculiar government 
customs. 

Now, then, we have working in these lower grades of 
schools about 300,000 teachers, not counting those in the 
colleges and normal schools, but in the high schools and 
grades below them. What a grand army! And more 
than 26,000 of these are in the State of' Pennsylvania. 

173 



When I think of such an army of young men and young 
women handling thought, handling minds, handling 
hearts, handling lives day after day, what a grand work 
it is ! You must excuse me if I feel and write enthusi- 
astically of this work. There is not only this vast num- 
ber engaged in the work, but these persons are supposed 
to be well qualified for that work. It is not, perhaps,, 
proper for me to speak very much about the literary qual- 
fication of these persons. I can only say in passing that 
I think the required qualifications are good, and if there 
is any advance, I do desire it in this, that there shall be 
required of all these teachers a more general informa- 
tion, not perhaps more knowledge in specific book work, 
for I see that the broadest education is not that which is 
simply taken out of books. We must have teachers of 
such general information as that can mould the child's 
mind and let him see the vast world he is living in. 

The moral requirements of a teacher I think it proper 
to write about. You know they must have a certificate 
from a minister or some person duly authorized to ac- 
credit their moral character to the superintendent who 
is to grant them their certificate. What is implied in a 
good moral character is left largely to the discretion of 
that person granting the certificate. I don't know how 
uniform is their management on" this question, but I 
think no young man or young lady ought to take charge 
of any of our schools who denies the Bible as the Word 
of God. I think no young man or lady ought to be al- 
lowed to teach in our schools who denies the existence of 
God, for I hold that there is still moral teaching required 
of these persons, and that the Bible itself should be the 
basis of all moral teaching here. How can a person be 
consistent and teach morals in which he has no faith? 
How can a man impress the thought of a God, and that a 
child shall be responsible to that God, when that per- 
son denies the existence of such a being? I think in 
some way our superintendents ought to be satisfied that 
such an individual does believe this, and I would withhold 
the certificate where the evidence was not clear. An un- 
questionably pure moral character should be required. 
The moral teaching to be done in the school is a very deli- 

174 



cate subject. I think there is a safe ground upon which 
we can all meet and all stand together. There will be 
occasions rising constantly, I might say, in the school 
room where it is necessary that morals should be taught. 
You may say, why not remand the subject of moral in- 
struction to the Sunday-school, to the church and to the 
home? Unfortunately the number of Sunday-school 
scholars in this country is a small fraction of the number 
of pupils who attend the day schools. Comparatively 
few of these children are found in church services. How 
are they to get the instruction at home when in many, oh, 
so many cases, parents are incompetent to give them 
moral instruction? Moral instruction must go along 
with intellectual training in order to make a safe citizen- 
ship. We cannot therefore remand the subject abso- 
lutely, even if we were to try, it would be impossible. 
Questions of honesty constantly come up in the school 
room ; questions of truth ; questions of love ; questions of 
right and wrong, and the teacher cannot evade giving out 
an impression on them. They make an impression one 
way or another. I am reminded of an instance in the 
first school I ever taught. I had a boy in that school 
who was deaf and dumb, a good boy, a religious boy, a 
conscientious worker, and as is often the case the other 
boys of the school were disposed sometimes to taunt him. 
One day during the noon hour I suppose this boy had 
been watching the conduct of the other boys, for he pick- 
ed up a piece of crayon and went to the black-board and 
wrote on it, "Do you want to go to Heaven"? One of 
the other boys in order to tease him a little, wrote quickly 
under it, "No." He had scarcely laid down the crayon 
when he picked it up and wrote under the word no, "You 
want to go to hell"? He wrote under it, "Yes." Oh! 
the agony of that boy, he could not write any more. By 
his actions he showed how he might be cast into hell and 
God turn the key upon him and I said, "Boys, there is a 
lesson you should never, never forget." And the teacher 
must say or do something that will impress either the 
right or the wrong, and therefore must teach, as an abso- 
lute necessity, one way or the other, right or wrong. It 
is important, therefore that we have religious or moral in- 

175 



struction, not denominational, but on the broad general 
principles accepted by all Christian people. 

If I had my way I would make selections from the word 
of God of those chapters or portions of chapters which 
are suitable to be read in the school room, and there are 
books of this kind, especially in the higher rooms. In 
the lower rooms, about the best that can be done in that 
respect would be reciting the Lord's Prayer, but the word 
of God should be in every school room ; it should be 
read without note or comment. This moral instruction 
is important to make good citizens. 

The work thus committed to 300,000 teachers is a very 
important work in its vastness, in the great opportuni- 
ties they have to do this work and how great therefore is 
the responsibility of teaching! 

The teachers have these pupils five days in the week, 
but the minister a few of them one day in the week, but 
if they do their work well, his work will be easy. If they 
lay deep and broad the foundation principles of truth, and 
love, and right as found in the word of God, it will be so 
easy for the minister to carry on the work when they come 
under his instruction. But if they sow malice, if they 
sow anarchy, if they sow anything that leads to the de- 
struction of society, if they cast a reflection on religion, 
they make his work difficult. You see, therefore, how I 
appreciate their work and the importance I attach to it 
that they may do that work well, so that the minister will 
have no correcting of their work when it comes to him. 

There are very great trials connected with a teacher's 
life and which are not always appreciated. I may say 
very seldom fully appreciated. Some people say, "The 
teacher makes his money easy." If you think so, just let 
me take you to-morrow morning and put you into a room 
of fifty children, and tell the teacher, "You go up there 
into the bank and let him stay here." I go around at 
three or four o'clock, I find you almost tearing the hair 
out of your head, and saying, "Let that teacher come 
back to-morrow." You would see what it is to keep in 
order forty or fifty restless children. Never say he makes 
his money easy. It is the most trying work upon the 
nerves which I can think of at this moment. It is the 

176 



more wearing on the constitution of a young lady than 
anything I can call to mind. I sympathize with them in 
all their discouragements. Let me assure them I rejoice 
with them in all their successes. Directors or school 
boards, do not consider that money spent in your local 
schools for the convenience of those school rooms, to fa- 
cilitate the work of those teachers, as loss of money. I 
have seen teachers working along almost without tools 
of any kind because the board said, "We cannot afford to 
give you any money to get them. We did not have any 
when we went to school." No, but we must have them 
now if the school goes onward, and is successful in hold- 
ing the children and training them as they ought to be 
held and trained, to take the places they must take in the 
world at this age. 

My observation is this, that school boards are often 
not what they ought to be. The boards are worked by 
local politicians, and on the board often is the first step- 
ping stone to political position and influence. I have 
known men on these boards who could neither read nor 
write, and men who were saloon keepers, and if there is 
any part of our school system that needs immediate reno- 
vation, it is the character of our school boards. I do 
not know how it is to come about, but I pray God will 
hasten the day when we shall have the best men on our 
school boards, men who know what education is or ought 
to be. I do hope that some time or other our whole 
school system can be taken out of the hands of party poli- 
tics, and let us hold it far above all such partizan feeling. 
The standard of the work of education should be almost 
up with the platform of the pulpit and where we can wel- 
come the three hundred thousand teachers of our land 
and grasp them by the hand and bid them God speed in 
their work, and what I want is that they shall have hearty 
support in their work and not be held back in such a 
glorious work as this. 

Teachers should live such a consecrated life in their 
work that their work will lead towards truth and to God, 
that every little boy and girl in the room will be lead to 
see a worthy character exhibited in their life, and so live 
as there shall never be anything in it that shall lead the 

177 



unwary astray. They copy you more than you think, and 
how pleased you will be in later years of your life should 
they come and say to you, "You taught me my first les- 
sons in honesty, in virtue and truth. I have never for- 
gotten them/' On the other hand, if they are careless 
and negligent and they should lead their feet away from 
the truth, away from God, what will be the account they 
must render in that Day? Oh! for consecrated teachers, 
that shall feel the high nobility of the calling, who will 
ask God's guidance and help in the work. 

You are building, building, building, we are all builders, 
and for months and years we must be building for we are 
assured that you do not for a moment think that you have 
at any time completed the edifice of character or the tem- 
ple of knowledge. No, you feel that you have only got- 
ten upon the ground floor, but we do sincerely trust that 
you have gotten something solid under your feet, upon 
which you may safely erect the superstructure of fortune 
and fame, and as you view the work thus far done, the 
paintings on the walls, the carving on the pillars and the 
frescoes on the ceilings, you will not forget that it is the 
work of amateur artisans, and we hope to give you such 
encouragement and enthusiasm and cheer as that you may 
go on to the final, and we trust glorious consummation 
of the work, character building. 

You may finish one pattern in the web of life. Others 
may not like it, some will criticise it, they will find some 
threads out of place and some colors not well blended, 
but they should remember that it is about the first pattern 
you have ever put before the general public; and we be- 
lieve that you intend to improve upon every pattern you 
shall in after years present to the public, and we have 
the fond hope — a hope that we trust may be realized — 
that when the entire web of life is completed, that all its 
designs, colors and threads may so harmoniously blend 
that we may hear some kind, approving angel say, "Well 
done." 

But while we have such strong faith and sweet hope in the 
final ending of all your efforts, still we do not forget that 
you have little more than begun your life's work, but we 
do hope that you have begun it well. 

178 



We trust that you may take many new departures. 
You may launch your boats but where's the shore; you 
may strike your tents but where's the camping ground, 
and at the voice of your commander you may break ranks, 
but where shall be the future place of rendezvous? 

To this hour in all your exploration I may say you 
have done but little more than coast along the shores of 
knowledge, but now hoist anchor and may the star of a 
noble destiny never for a moment be lost sight of, while 
passing under the clouds of adversity, and may kind 
Heaven lend its favoring breezes until you tread the 
happy shores of an immortal life. 

My friends, life is to you and to all a great occasion. 
It is not so much a grand consummation as it is a glorious 
beginning. 

This may be your sunrise, and may be the beginning of 
the great day of your public life, and as at the sunrise, 
hills and vales, woods and landscapes, clouds and skies, 
are beautifully netted together in a golden mist, so the 
future to you is not clearly outlined, but as you prismati- 
cally look through all intervening objects upon the spect- 
rum, may you behold the rose tint, the flush of your fond- 
est hopes. 

We trust you occupy some eminence where your hori- 
zon is broader than formerly, but you will observe that 
"to loftier heights" shall be your motto, and so as you 
continue may your thoughts and may your hearts con- 
tinue to broaden as the process of the sun. 

"In a valley, centuries ago, 

Grew a little fern leaf green and slender, 

Veining delicate and fibres tender, 

Earth one time, out on a frolic mood 

Moved the plain and shook the haughty wood, 

Crushed the little fern in soft moist clay, 

Covered it and hid it safe away. 

At length there came a thoughtful man, 

Searching nature's secrets, far and deep, 

From a fissure in a rocky steep 

He withdrew a stone, o'er which there ran 

Fairy pencilings, a quaint design, 

Leafage, veining, fibres clear and fine, 

And the fern's life lay in every line." 

179 



So this is nature's fine and imperishable penmanship on 
the entablatures of the earth, and far surpasses those un- 
known and human writings on the Moabite stone, or those 
pictured chiselings on the great monoliths of Egypt. 
Time wears these away, and soon the smooth surface like 
a blank page will tell no story to succeeding generations, 
but nature's records on the rocks will remain till the end 
of time. 

As we read the story of great battles and see pictures 
of falling and dying men, we almost think we can hear 
their dying moan, and so as we read the sad story of the 
rocks, as those great floods and glaciers bore down the 
huge mammoth, behemoth, and mastodon and imprisoned 
them in the sedimentary rocks, we almost think we can 
hear their terrific dying groans. 

Thus reading these records of nature, while full of 
thrilling interest, still they are full of sadness and we 
seem like reading the inscriptions in some old briar- 
grown grave-yard. 

And so we are every day writing, but not with pen, writ- 
ing not perhaps with those great master strokes of na- 
ture, which we have been reading in the stratified rocks, 
but writing on the sensitive tablet of human hearts. And 
how endlessly variegated is the writing, made so by the 
character of the words we utter. An angry word puts in 
a line of red, a bad word a line of black, a friendship word 
a line of blue, a jealous word a line of green, a peace word 
a line of light. 

Thus we are writing all over each other's hearts more 
closely, too, than any writing ever found upon an Oriental 
parchment. And in our writing what colors predomin- 
ate? Red, written in blood; black, casting a shadow on 
the life ; green, filling the soul with envy and jealousy ; 
blue, linking hearts to hearts ; light, casting the shimmer- 
ing sunshine o'er all the life. And this writing is inefface- 
able ; rub it out even with the softest hand of pity — never ; 
eat it out with the keenest teeth of chemicals — never ; 
wash it out with the storm tide of time — never. 

Doubtless the recording angel, while putting down 
many things against us as he writes, drops many a tear 
that blots out many a bad word from the book of life, but 

180 



all his tears, though they were an ocean, cannot blot out 
the smallest word from the tablet of a human heart. 

What is written is written, and even the rough gouging 
of the jack plane of adversity cannot tear it away, neither 
can the over-stamping of good deeds and good words ob- 
literate it — there it is and it is as imperishable as is the 
fibre of an immortal soul. 

And this writing on our hearts can be read only by 
our own eyes, and others cannot read even the lines 
which they themselves have written. It is to us forever 
a private record. 

Some of these lines we would be glad to let others see 
and read and hope that the reading would at least excite 
a tenderness of mutual sympathy, which we feel we so 
much need to up-bear us in the burdens of life ; but there 
are other lines over which we consider it a holy duty to 
throw the veil of eternal secrecy. 

No thumb-screw can pinch tight enough, no rack is 
strong enough, and no fire is hot enough to make us yield 
up these sacred treasures of the heart ; and as nature does 
not yield up all its precious stores to any man or to any 
age, so man does not and should not surrender all the 
precious things of the heart to any one, whoever he may 
be. 

And so we are all writers, constant writers, imperish- 
able writers, and when the record is at last finished and 
Death tells us that it is now time to write Finis, it will be 
an eternal benediction to the soul to know that in all the 
volume there is 

"Not one immoral, one corrupted thought, 
One line which dying, he could wish to blot." 

But what of the Future? 

Is life a disappointment to most people? Many think 
so. To some it is a sad disappointment, but to others it 
is a happy disappointment. It is certainly quite true that 
most people find life vastly different from what they ex- 
pected, and to continue an old figure for the want of a 
better one, the voyage is attended with vastly different 
circumstances than they had supposed, although one 

181 



would think from the great amount of what has been said 
and written upon it, that we would know even before we 
came to them every cape and promontory, every channel 
and strait, every hidden rock and reef — yes, and even 
every kind of vessel we should sight in our voyage. 

And how few people reach the port for which they set 
sail in life. But what if I set sail for Paris and finally drift 
into the harbor of London. Business London may prove 
to be to me far better than fashionable Paris. 

That ambitious navigator that once sailed out of the 
humble harbor of Palos, seeking for a new water-way to 
India, did not find it, but accidentally found a new world, 
richer and grander than a thousand Indias. 

The name and fame of Columbus would have doubtless 
long since perished, had it not been for the unexpected 
find of America. 

So it is often that the unexpected turns in life are the 
only things that save us from defeat and secure success 
and fame. 

See yonder that panic-stricken, routed, fleeing army, 
dashing pell mell down the valley. But yonder on the 
brow of the distant hill I see coming a foaming, dashing 
steed, its gallant rider raising his hat in the air and his 
keen saber glittering in the sunlight, and thus the timely 
but unexpected arrival of Sheridan not only saved the 
day and the army but saved himself to everlasting fame 
and glory. 

But the unexpected is not always of this welcome and 
favorable kind. It does not always bring joy and peace. 
Sometimes a shadow comes through the window when 
we are looking for a sunbeam to enter. In our vain search 
for the rose, we are pricked by the thorn. In listening 
for the sweet symphonies of pity and love we hear no- 
thing but the harsh discords of hate and cruelty. But let 
us not despair. That must be a very poor house indeed, 
that has not more than one window. If there is a shade 
on one side of the house, there is sure to be light on the 
other, and if the storm beats on one side, there is sure to 
be shelter on the other. Let us learn the art of finding 

182 



the lightened windows and sheltered side in the affairs of 
life,, and not always stand complaining in the deep shad- 
ows and the drifting storm. 

We will often doubtless find that "the time is out of 
joint/' but never let us show ourselves the weak vacillat- 
ing, hesitating coward by saying, "O, cursed spite ! that 
ever I was born to set it right." 

We are born to set the times right, as far as we are able 
and to cause the unexpected real good to happen and to 
banish the unexpected evil beyond the realm of possible 
realization, and in our efforts in doing this, let us be en- 
couraged to know that it were far better to make a suc- 
cess in a humble calling than to make a failure in a grand 
one 



* 



183 



CHAPTER XV 



THE NEW EDUCATION 

It is important for us to inquire what are the proper de- 
mands for education in this day. The farmer must in- 
quire each year, if he is wise and judicious, how many 
acres he should plant and how many acres he should 
mow, and he must take into account how much grain he 
needs for his own family use as well as for his stock, and 
then he must calculate on how much he will have for the 
market. A question is often asked, "Are there not to- 
day too many people being educated beyond the common 
school education/' or, in other words, "Is there a demand 
for so many persons being highly educated?" I cannot 
take the space now to show what I have carefully inves- 
tigated and that is, that the proportion of persons receiv- 
an education beyond the common schools is not keeping 
pace with the increase of population. Pittsburg, for in- 
stance, is increasing in population over 20,000 annually, 
but the numbers in attendance in the various schools, 
public or otherwise, with two or three exceptions, are not 
increasing in the same ratio ; and the number of gradu- 
ates from these institutions; which, after all, is the only 
true test of this principle, is falling behind the increase of 
the population of the city. There is, of course, a large 
number of graduates from these different schools who 
are not employed, and this will always be the case in every 
department of business. For instance, if you advertise 
in some evening paper for a servant to do house-work 
and next morning before you are up, what a crowd will 
be at your door. Have we then too much help? No; 

185 



this is no proof that the people are too well supplied with 
help. Advertise for a clerk or bookkeeper and a similar 
result as to numbers will follow. 

Positions are multiplying as business increases and men 
are pushing up and filling higher places, leaving their own 
vacant, which, of course, must be filled by some persons. 
There is a great and pressing demand for well qualified 
persons who can fill the various positions both in these 
and in professional life. 

Persons who can show that they have been carefully 
drilled in the principles and practices as far as may be 
before they come to assume the duties and responsibilities 
of business, are the persons who are much sought after. 
In this day of hurry and dash, business men have not the 
time to train young men under them as clerks and book- 
keepers ; nor have teachers time to train subordinates to 
fill the positions in lower grades. Young preachers are 
no longer trained as in former times, under older ones, 
but must be qualified at first to take charge of the church 
or congregation, and this preparation, of course, must 
now be greater both in the extent and the depth of the 
knowledge required. 

The old idea of self-made men being the best and most 
useful and the most practical, is no longer accepted or be- 
lieved by any considerable number; in fact it never was 
true to any considerable extent that men were self- 
made. True they may not have attended schools in which 
to secure their training and their knowledge, but they 
have had the use of books — books which have been large- 
ly furnished — I may say universally furnished by persons 
who have been educated in these institutions of learning. 
This boast of self-made men reminds me of an instance. 
A bald-headed man was once boasting of being self-made, 
and he made these boasts frequently in the presence of 
his friend, who at last became tired of his repetitions. 
Now to this self-made man one day he says, "You say you 
are a self-made man." "Yes, sir/' was the reply, "Then 
why did you not finish the job and put some hair on the 
top of your head?" Self-made men are not quite finished. 

But this new education is of great and prominent im- 
portance to all classes both of town and country. As 

186 



farmers, their children need higher education than in 
former times, as the farmer is dependent on the town and 
city for his trade as much, perhaps, as the city is depend- 
ent on the farmer for his produce. This exchange of com- 
merce which is going on between the farmer and the 
towns-man is in this day conducted on higher business 
principles than in former times. The sharp competition, 
and now and then sharp practices, which are engaged in, 
compel the farmer to have his son well educated in busi- 
ness forms and practices. He must understand notes, 
checks and mortgages, so that he may not be swindled 
out of the price of his produce, and that he may be able 
to defend himself, indeed from all classes of sharpers. 
Farmers' sons and daughters must be educated in this day 
to a higher plain than ever before. The greatest propor- 
tion of our business men have come from the farm, and 
this will probably continue to be the case in years to 
come, since it is said that very many of the sons of our 
business men do not succeed them in business. 

It is also a fact that the greatest number of ministers 
of this day come from the farms, and it is also true that 
most of the theological students in our various seminaries 
to-day have come from the country, and the supply to fill 
these various business and professional places must still 
continue, no doubt, to come from the country. 

In a purely business manner let me say if your son or 
daughter wishes to go to the town or city to secure a 
higher education for the purpose of entering into business 
or professional life, do not hinder them, nay, rather help 
them, for the history of the past shows us that we are de- 
pendent on them for the continuance of the business and 
the professions. Do not think that they will be necessar- 
ily ruined by the city life ; doubtless many have thus been 
ruined, but many more have stemmed the tide of tempta- 
tion and have grown up, and as I have said are now the 
substantial business and professional men of our cities. 
But beyond this the demand is great for the higher educa- 
tion of your sons and daughters. 

Let me say that we are having to-day a better class of 
schools and more practical and useful education than ever 
before. 

187 



Educators during the past few years have been studying 
and planning and I may say they have been succeeding 
in adopting methods by which your sons and daughters 
may take up these different callings and professions with 
more practical ideas, that they may enter them with great- 
er hope of success. 

Business colleges, at least many of them, have gotten 
down to actual business practice so far as it is possible 
without handling the goods themselves, and teachers are 
taught the best practical methods of work in the school 
room, and how the methods may be applied in the various 
grades of schools, so that in a shorter time the children of 
to-day may gain a higher education than in any former 
time. 

We are giving more flexibility to our courses of study, 
so that each person may get the special study he wants 
to fit him for his work ; hence many of our studies, es- 
peciallyin the higher languages and mathematics are being 
made elective and optional, and more practical studies 
are allowed to take their places. We certainly cannot 
continue to carry all the past with us, however worthy it 
may be. We must drop some of the studies of the anci- 
ents, or give them less time. New sciences and branches 
of science are demanding attention and no one man is able 
to grasp and carry with him all the learning of the past. 
We must live for the present and the future. At our 
school commencements the precious dust of Demosthe- 
nes, Cicero, Plato, Homer and Virgil, is not stirred up 
quite so often as in former years. That young man on 
the platform, as you have observed, is most loudly ap- 
plauded who takes a timely subject and treats it in a prac- 
tical way. 

I am intensely in earnest in my endeavors at least to 
secure a modification of our course of study, especially in 
our colleges and universities, so that they shall drop much 
of the old past and take up more and still more of the liv- 
ing present. One life is too short to compass all the 
knowledge of the universe. This effort to carry with us 
all the ancient learning is somewhat like the boy, who 
when he becomes a young man would put on his father's 

188 



coat, and then after a while put on his grandfather's coat, 
and then if it is still preserved, put on his great grand- 
father's coat. 

Surely we must lay off the musty,moth-eaten garments 
of the past, and put on the beautiful robes of the bright 
present. It will be far better indeed for any of those who 
may be considering that it is too late for them to prepare 
for these high and responsible positions, to go into life's 
harvest field a little late with a keen sickle than to go in 
early with a dull one. 

Woman's certificate from God for work is her ability 
and adaptability to do that work, and her ability is the 
gauge of her responsibility, and no person is responsible 
if circumstances absolutely forbid the exercise of this 
ability. Society now considers itself very far removed 
from paganism, but it is wonderful to observe how much 
the manners and customs and civilization of this day are 
still influenced by pagan notions and ideas. Secular civ- 
ilization may be traced back from the United States to 
England, from England to Rome, from Rome to Greece, 
from Greece to Egypt, and from Egypt to Persia, and from 
Persia to India. And among Hindu proverbs may be 
found the following relating to woman : T 'Ignorance is 
a woman's jewel. Female wisdom is from the Evil One. 
The feminine qualities are four — ignorance, fear, shame 
and impurity/' Now, as a result of such contempt of 
woman and her capacity for learning, we have the unex- 
ampled degradation and oppression of women in India 
and other countries, and which forms such an insuperable 
barrier to modern missionary enterprises. But see how 
modern nations have copied the pagan sentiments of these 
countries. It is an old Italian proverb that "women are 
wise off-hand, and fools on reflection." It is a German 
saying that, "There are only two good women in the 
world — one of them is dead and the other is not to be 
found." And the European idea of woman is but a step, 
and that a short one, too, in advance of the Oriental sen- 
timent. I know we may be pointed to their queens, prin- 
cesses and ladies as a seeming refutation of this position, 
but it should be remembered that she is not elevated to 

189 



these positions of respectability and honor because of her 
natural or acquired endowments, but mainly, if not solely 
by virtue of her blood royalty. 

But what have been and now are the American ideas 
upon this subject? A few years ago, and only a few, we 
were measuring heads and weighing brains. The phre- 
nologists, after careful measurement, came to the delib- 
erate conclusion that the facial angle of a woman's head 
was less than a man's, and they settled down with satis- 
faction that this was conclusive evidence that her capacity 
for intelligence was less than man's. O, how comfortable 
they felt ! Man is still to be her liege lord. But he be- 
gan to think again of her skull, whether her forehead was 
prominent, broad and perpendicular, or narrow and re- 
ceding, just so she had the same amount of brain. I sup- 
pose they were led to this train of reflection by observing 
some men whose heads did not fill out their model of in- 
telligence and yet were wise, hence they said, as the brain 
is the organ of the intellect, the larger the brain the larger 
the capacity for thought, hence also they said, to settle this 
matter we will weigh their brains. They did so ; and O ! 
how happy they were with the result! Man has several 
ounces more brain than woman. O, did not these lords 
feel good over that? But this same investigation forced 
upon them another conclusion over which they did not re- 
joice so much, that was that although woman's brain 
lacked in quantity, it excelled in quality. Man's brain was 
coarser, but woman's was finer, and that the capacity for 
thought depended not upon the quantity but the quality 
of the brain. Hence originated that home-spun adage, 
"Little head, little wit, big head, not a bit." 

Now while we believe and admit the general principles 
of phrenology, we attach but little importance to its par- 
ticulars. The bumps upon a man's or woman's head are 
not of half as much importance and interest to them as 
the corns upon their toes. The mountains and hills of 
the globe are the least productive and the more promin- 
ent the more barren they are. The valleys are for rich- 
ness, and who can absolutely tell but what the promin- 
ences of the brain are the barren places and the depres- 
sions are the valleys of its fertility? 

190 



And now aside from this, this fact will become obvious 
upon a moment's reflection, that the farther we are re- 
moved from the influences of monarchy, and despotism, 
and paganism, which are regular descendants in the order 
named, the nearer is woman recognized as man's equal, 
and whether this fact is welcomed or unwelcomed by us 
it is nevertheless the fact. 

Do I not state a truth when I say that the United States 
is the farthest removed from the influence and control 
of paganism of any nation upon the face of the earth? 
Is not this also the truth that here woman is less op- 
pressed and more free ; and do not the laws and customs 
of society grant her more rights and privileges than in 
any nation in the world? Hence it is true that the more 
entirely society frees itself from the hateful incubus of 
paganism, the more clearly and powerfully does woman's 
intellect assert itself. Look at these interesting facts : 
Not a poetess, nor authoress, nor paintress, nor sculpt- 
ress (if you will allow the words) of any note can be 
found mentioned in Greek or Roman history, but we do 
read of men, such as Homer and Anacreon, among the 
Greeks, and Virgil and Tacitus among the Latins. And 
we will venture that no one can write down one-half dozen 
names of German poetesses which you have ever seen or 
heard or read about, and the same is true regarding au- 
thors, sculptors and painters. Go from the Continent 
to the British Isles and there you discover a marked step 
of progress. There you will find more women engaged 
in writing, in sculpture and in painting, and among her 
poetesses and authoresses are names worthy ot honorable 
mention, such as Mrs. Browning, Mrs. Hemans, Mary 
Howitt, Hannah More and Mrs. Southey, but the United 
States can outnumber Great Britain two to one, and the 
lustre of their names is not dimmed by comparison with 
the illustrious names of Europe. Such names as Alice 
Carey, Phoebe Cary, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, Miss Nancy 
A. W. Priest, Mrs. Lydia H. Sigourney, Mrs. Harriet 
Beecher Stowe and Mrs. Amelia B. Welb'y are worthy 
to emboss any nation's escutcheon. Women here write 
more books and more articles for the press than in all the 
world besides. As for painting and sculpture, they are 

191 



equal to, if they do not excel those of any nation. With 
what true pride do we love to speak the name of Harriet 
Hosmer, the sculpturess. Whom did Congress select to 
cast or carve a bust of the man whom this nation will 
never forget to venerate — Abraham Lincoln? An Am- 
erican lady, Miss Vinnie Ream, and for which bust which 
cost her about three years of mental and physical toil 
she received the handsome sum of $10,000. It is now 
finished and is in Washington, where it will ever remain 
both an honor to our country and to the lady that fashion- 
ed it. Thus it is seen that in America the intelligence of 
woman surpasses the intelligence of woman in any nation, 
ancient or modern, and for this reason that here woman 
is freer from the despotism and paganism of other na- 
tions, here she is recognized as nearer man's equal in 
rights and privileges, and hence nearer his equal in in- 
telligence. 

Twenty-five years ago, how many colleges in the world 
were open to female students on the same principles as 
male students? Few or none at all. And why? First, 
it will not do, said they, to educate them together, for it 
would endanger the morals of both. Well, they were de- 
signed to live together, and if so, why not get a little 
acquainted first? But, to be serious, does such a system 
of education demoralize both? I answer, it does not, and 
as proof, we say that the morality of those institutions in 
which she is admitted equally with man, is equal, if not 
superior to the morality of those colleges from which she 
is excluded. It has been clearly shown — and more, it is 
very natural and reasonable — that the education of the 
sexes together has an elevating, refining and restraining 
effect upon both of them. Another reason why she could 
not be admitted to the same college with man, was the 
supposition that her duties in life, as well as her capacity 
of intellect, required a different and inferior curriculum 
of study. How slow were these educated men to discover 
this double error, but, thanks to Providence that they 
discovered it at last. 

Mount Union College and Oberlin College, Ohio, were 
among the first in the United States, if not in the world, 
to admit woman upon the same educational platform as 

192 



man. Meadville and others have done the same, and all 
the eastern colleges are following this example, and the 
time is not far distant when the demand of public opinion 
will be so imperative that old Oxford and Cambridge and 
the colleges and universities of Continental Europe must 
and will throw open their venerable halls to the equal 
rights and privileges of woman. 

For one, I am happy that woman is beginning to have 
an equal chance in the intellectual race of life. It has too 
long been the public opinion that the highest literary at- 
tainments she needed were to read and write love-letters, 
to calculate the cost of a few pounds of butter or a few 
yards of calico ; to know enough of geography to tell the 
capital of the State she lived in ; to tell who was President 
of the United States, and to know enough of history to 
know who it was that discovered America. And it was 
thought by some that she was amply qualified in art if 
she could make a wax cross or finish a landscape paint- 
ing, and finger the piano, and as the climax of all, if she 
had but a smattering of the French. This they appeared 
to think was, to her, the ultima thule, the utmost limit, to 
her education. But no, excelsior is as applicable to her 
as to man. She is being carried forward, aura popularis, 
by the gale of popular favor, and very soon the motto of 
Oregon will be her motto — Alls volat propriis; she flies 
with her own wings. 

Woman should never cease being a student, and she 
should be a progressive student all through life. Too 
often is it that having acquired a certain amount of knowl- 
edge of manners, of customs and accomplishments, she 
considers herself made up, as the printers say. She is 
then like a fine picture placed in a gilded frame and hung 
upon the wall, simply to tarnish with years. This thing 
of a finished education is a misnomer and should be ex- 
punged from the dialect of an intelligent people. How 
often have I seen the pale cheek of a lady changed to a 
beautiful crimson as the county superintendent or ex- 
aminer has asked the question, "Do you intend to make 
teaching a life profession ?" And how she has choked for 
an answer. And more than that, what right had he to 
ask such an embarrassing question? Suppose she turns 

193 



Yankee and answers his question by asking one : "Do 
you intend to be county superintendent for life?" "No, 
ma'am, not any longer than the people wish me to be, 
or until I see some better employment or sphere of labor." 
She replies, "Exactly so with me." If she decides that it 
is better for her to marry and is determined to control 
that question herself, whose concern is it? That woman 
can be, and will be, and is generally as good a teacher 
with the decision of that question in her own hands as 
without it, cannot be denied. And more than that, tak- 
ing things as they are, where is the lady that is not as they 
say, "in the market"? And she has a right to be. We 
contend, then, that the question whether she intends to 
be a teacher for life or not is out of order, but whatever 
is her relationship she should be a progressive student. 
If she has the misfortune to marry an ignorant man, so 
much more is her intelligence needed that she may be 
the instructor of the household. If she marries an in- 
telligent man, she should be intelligent also, that she may 
be companionable with him. And if she is to be a mother, 
for a greater reason than we have yet mentioned should 
she be intellectual and a thorough scholar, since it is now 
an admitted fact that the mother generally stamps the in- 
tellect of the child. But if she is to be a life-teacher she 
can only be successful as she is a life-student. 

New and more efficient methods of presenting scientific 
truth are all the while being discovered, and only that per- 
son can be successful who is fully and constantly read up 
with the times, and in no sphere, at no time, and at no 
age, should the teacher, secular or religious, cease to be 
a student. We read of a man who spent sixty years in 
the study of the bee, and he said that he would not then 
have given it up if the bee had not died. Thus a student 
she becomes and continues qualified as a successful teach- 
er. For some cause or other, the female teachers have 
supplanted the male teachers. From the School Report 
of the State of Pennsylvania we gather the following in- 
teresting facts : By looking over the reports from the 
different counties, we observe that those which are the 
farthest behind in school appliances, and are the most 
thinly settled and in the most rural districts of those 

194 



counties, there male teachers are the most numerous, but 
in towns and cities and densely populated districts, and 
where school facilities are the most numerous and best, 
there the female teachers predominate. Now, the practi- 
cal question is, why is this? The common answer is that 
the wages paid will not justify a young man in teaching 
while he can secure more for his labor elsewhere. It is a 
fact that the wages of most educators are unmercifully 
low, but to say that this is the primary cause which has 
driven the male teachers out of our schools, we believe to 
be a harsh criticism upon the judgment and honor of our 
school boards. Would they, for the sake of a few dollars, 
allow the interests of the school to suffer? I have a bet- 
ter opinion of them than that. Are not the following 
some better reasons? Are they not still in our rural dis- 
tricts where male teachers outnumber the female, still 
clinging to the pagan idea that no one is fit to teach 
school, especially in the winter, except some gruff old 
man or beardless boy? anybody but a woman. In our 
towns and cities, some years ago, they with a good deal 
of doubt and misgiving, ventured to place a woman in 
the primary department, and to their utter astonishment 
she succeeded there ; and so she went on until she sup- 
planted nearly all the male teachers in the building except 
the principal and in some places she is principal. In our 
cities especially, woman is rapidly becoming educated, 
and other departments of intellectual pursuit are opening 
to her. And in the trial she has in the lower departments 
at least, proven herself to be man's superior as a teacher. 
These, we think, are the proper causes of the increasing 
disparity between the number of male and female teach- 
ers, and she will yet succeed in the highest departments of 
teaching, and as soon as public opinion will place her 
there and sustain her she will succeed. 

Thus we see that the general education of our country 
has passed into the hands of woman, and we do not re- 
gard this as an accident of the hour, but a provi3ential ar- 
rangement of the age, because woman, educated, is the 
superior teacher. And first, she has superior natural en- 
dowment. Education, strictly speaking, is but the de- 
yelopment of what is in us. It is not the bestowment of 

195 



any new faculties or powers, but the cultivation and train- 
nig of them. Among these superior natural endowments 
of woman may be mentioned, first, her quick and clear 
discernment of human nature. This principle which can- 
not be controverted when she is bad, makes her tenfold 
more ruinous to society than man ; and when she is good, 
why should it not make her correspondingly successful for 
good? She has better language than man. She is never 
at a loss in the private circle, at least, to tell what she 
knows. And if public opinion will allow it, why can she 
not tell it in public? How many stammering girls or 
women did you ever see? Few, if any; but stammering 
boys and men by the dozen. It is a harsh Chinese pro- 
verb that says, "A woman's tongue is her sword, and she 
never lets it rust." This may be used in a good sense as 
well as in a bad one. 

Again, as a teacher, her example is better. There is 
something restraining, refining, elevating in the very pres- 
ence of a virtuous, intelligent woman. Such a woman 
is not as much given to the use of slang phrases or by- 
words, or provincialisms as man. There is little danger 
of the pupils ever hearing her use the name of God pro- 
fanely. There is no danger that the boys will ever see 
her whiffing a cigar or bespattering the floor with saliva. 
And lastly, she is more religious. This is shown from 
the fact that nearly two-thirds of the members of the 
Christian Church are women. What a Providence there 
is in this, so that if the education of the young shall fall 
into the hands of woman, it falls into the hands of the 
most religious sex. How wise are God's ways. 

Teacher, your work is great. Your responsibilities are 
great. Give the very best possible instruction you can. 
Do not put off the child by saying, "You are only a child, 
and that will do for you." Do not do like Bridget did 
when she was scolded by her mistress for giving the chil- 
dren skimmed milk ; she said, "And sure, mum, I would 
not give the scum to the children; I gave it to the cats." 
Ah, the children do not want the blue milk, but the cream 
of your knowledge. Pour out your treasures to them 
that they may be rich also, and let nil desperandum be 
your motto. 

196 



CHAPTER XVI 



MASTERING CIRCUMSTANCES 

The daisy is said to be the poet's favorite, and next to 
this I would say is fair youth the rosy morn of life, as 
every conceivable figure and phrase have been employed 
to describe this interesting period. 

"Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows, 

While proudly riding o'er the azure realm 

In gallant trim the gilded vessel goes; 

Youth on the Prow and Pleasure at the helm." 

It is thought to be a time of high hopes, fair promises 
and bright prospects and is full of joyous anticipations 
and some may think that youth's ambition needs no 
additional fire, and that its sails can take no more breeze 
with safety to the craft. 

Such may be the case with some, but it is very far from 
being the case with many, as thousands of the young to- 
day are settling down to a low condition of life, submit- 
ting, as they think, to the over-mastery of circumstances, 
and concluding that henceforth their necessary lot is to 
browse among the common herd whereas if moved by 
the spirit of a youth that means to be of note, they might 
some day be standing by the side of the blooded stock of 
the stall. My aim then is to point out the way to a higher 
and better life wherein will be found more happiness and 
usefulness so necessary in a well ordered life. 

197 



A Vicious Ancestry 

Many are discouraged because of an ill-favored an- 
cestry. They say of Daniel and others that they were of 
royal birth and hence their star of destiny must rise. I 
will not say that his royal and religious parentage, his 
careful Jewish training during the first twelve years of 
his life, and his fine personal appearance were of no ad- 
vantage to him ; no, for all these things were decidedly in 
his favor. How much the virtue or the vice of the par- 
ents, the character of the home, the kind of books that 
they read, the nature of the society in which they mingle, 
have to do with the destiny of even their unborn children 
is not well enough understood. The iniquities of the 
fathers and mothers are visited in more senses than one 
upon the children. 

But my young friends there is nothing like a divine de- 
cree or a blind fate about this matter; it is but the result 
of natural causes and is not absolutely unalterable des- 
tiny ; if it were so society never could rise. 

A vicious ancestry, it is true, is a dead weight against 
any one, but this weight may be to a large degree over- 
come by superior virtue in yourself, and in making up 
the count against yourself be careful to discriminate be- 
tween vicious and simply humble circumstances. Humble 
circumstances also may be a disadvantage but they are no 
disgrace, and as Byron said your mother may have been 
"born in the garret, in the kitchen bred," yet such a 
mother may have been the best of mothers. Or as an- 
other has said, "I came upstairs into the world for I was 
born in a cellar." 

"But 'tis better to be lowly born, 
And range with humble livers in content 
Than to be perked up in a glistering grief, 
And wear a golden sorrow." 

In this country, perhaps more than in any other, indi- 
vidualism is king and not ancestry, and every character is, 
to a large extent, independent of previous caste or blood 
and is "not propped by ancestry whose grace chalks suc- 
cessors their way." 

198 



Here the examples are numerous how many may rise 
up from obscurity and become the leaders in all depart- 
ments of progress. I do not believe that a poet is born 
under "a rhyming planet," or that any man is born under 
any star of unchangeable destiny, neither do I believe in 
the fatalism of that couplet which teaches that: 

"There's a divinity that shapes our ends, 
Rough hew them how we will." 

Shakespeare's theology was always more erratic than 
his poetry, but I believe him when he says, but with noted 
exceptions : 

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, 
But in ourselves, that we are underlings." 

A Fine Personal Appearance 

Many are discouraged also because of a lack of fine per- 
sonal presence, and unlike Daniel they are full of blem- 
ishes and are ill-favored. Sydney Smith represented the 
various persons in society as either circular, triangular, 
square or oblong, but who can tell which is the most 
beautiful and the most perfect geometrical figure? Some 
would choose one and some another, and so personal 
beauty is a variable quantity, as there is no standard 
since "every crow thinks her young the whitest." 

There are some, who like a note at par, are worth no- 
thing more than their face, but it is a good thing to have 
"a face like a benediction" as we read of one in Don 
Quixote, but a well formed face was never a true sign 
ol a strong character. "A handsome man a'nt much of a 
man anyway," says Billings. It is the strong oak that has 
the rough bark, and the tender plant that has the velvet 
down; it is the lion that has the shaggy mane, and the 
lamb that has the finest wool ; it is the Hercules that sleeps 
on a lion's skin, and the pigmy that sleeps on feathers. 
Do not sigh, then, to be a chiseled beauty, such a one as 
is described by Walter Scott, himself a man of rough ex- 
terior, when he said : 

199 



"And ne'er did Grecian chisel trace 
"A Nymph, a Naiad, or a Grace, 
Of finer form, or lovelier face." 

There are some persons who are like a performance 
which is all scenery and no speaking, a pantomine, and 
their life is a kind of a brilliant pantomine, striking but 
silent, masked but not real, personating some one else 
but not themselves. And much of the personal beauty of 
this day is cosmetic, padded, switched and banged and 
pompadoured beauty, and when all these are taken off, 
we see that other people are as homely as ourselves. 

There is so much of the spurious in society now, and it 
never was more true than now since it was first written, 
"Things are not what they seem." Sham and shoddy 
are striving for the mastery of society, and some are 
growing faint-hearted and begin to say, "It is of no use, 
we might as well do as other people do." No, no, that 
will never do, but be yourself, your noble self, and do not 
condescend to be an ape. Do not attempt to play the 
masquerade in life, as the mask may be suddenly torn 
from you and anyhow you cannot afford to run the risk 
of the mortification that will follow your exposure ; that 
would certainly be more humiliating than being your 
humble self all the days of your life. 

Assumed worth of any kind, as a rule, is short lived but 
real worth, be it much or little, lives the longest, is the 
most useful and gives the most personal and rational con- 
tentment. 

"Worth makes the man and want of it the fellow 
The rest is all but leather or prunello." 

Homely People Have Succeeded 

And take encouragement from the fact that many per- 
sons of defective physique and poor of speech in all de- 
partments of life are among the renowned benefactors of 
our race and are immortal in history. 

Moses was not an orator but a man slow of speech and 
yet worthy to be compared with the Christ of history. In 
bodily presence Paul was weak and carried about with 

200 



him continually a stigma, a thorn in the flesh, and yet 
where is the human life that is worthy to be compared 
with his? 

Aristotle was a pigmy in body but a giant in intellect. 

Homer and Milton were blind yet they saw more than 
most men having two good eyes. Napoleon was a little 
man, yet he was big enough to be called at least the peer 
of Wellington. Pope was a hunch-back and an invalid 
and called an interrogation point, yet he gave to the 
world precepts as straight as an arrow and as sound as 
a dollar. 

Nelson was little and lame, yet he was strong enough 
and nimble enough to successfully command one of the 
grandest navies that ever plowed the seas. It is said of 
Mirabeau that he was the ugliest Frenchman who ever 
lived, and his face was like the face of a "tiger pitted with 
the small pox," and yet his personal presence was attend- 
ed with such a rare bewitchery of power that seven differ- 
ent women eloped with him. We have inherited from 
Senaca that grand statement : "I do not distinguish by 
the eye but by the mind, which is the proper judge of the 
man.'" And Isaac Watts once v/rote : 

"Were I so tall to reach the pole 
Or grasp the ocean with my span 
I must be measured by my soul, 
The mind's the standard of the man." 



Only a Few are Models 

It is true the Greeks placed beauty next to virtue and 
made it an object of worship. As a man, what if you are 
not like the Grecian model, in which Apollo is half a head 
taller than Venus, or what if your wife is taller than your- 
self? It may be the best thing in the world for you to 
look up to her in more senses than one. What if you 
have not such a beautiful arm as that American girl, who 
when visiting the studio of Powers, and while pointing 
to some work of art, the falling mantle exposed the arm, 
and Powers exclaimed, "Heavens ! what an arm ! Oh, for 
the art to petrify it." 

201 



What if you are not as attractive as Goethe, who was 
not only likened to Apollo, but it is said, when ever he 
would enter a restaurant, the people would lay down their 
knives and forks to stare at him ! What if you, as a wo- 
man, are not like Elizabeth of Hungary, the most beauti- 
ful woman of her time? What if you are not like the 
statue that enchants the world, the Venus de Medici, the 
most perfect existing model of form, or as Shakespeare 
said of Hamlet, "The glass of fashion and the mould of 
form"? What if your upper lip does not have such a 
graceful curve as to form the model of the bow of Cupid? 
What if your hair is not like the golden locks of Corn- 
modus, who when he walked in the sun, they so glittered 
that the people believed they had been sprinkled with 
gold dust? What if your neck is not so long and white 
as to entitle you, like Helen of Troy, to be called the 
daughter of a swan? What if you are too busy to be 
often and long in the bath and leave it only to eat and 
rest in bed, like the Empress Theodora, to increase your 
plumpness of figure? 

It is a known fact that one temperament may be chang- 
ed for another more than once in a life time and this by 
proper culture. 

But what if you are after all effort doomed to be home- 
ly? do you not see that even plain and homely things are 
the most useful? 

Homeliness and Greatness 

You may by a correct course of life, compel people to 
say of you as Rufus Choate said to Chief Justice Shaw, "I 
know that you are ugly but I feel that you are great." 

Socrates had thick lips, lobster-like eyes and a flat 
nose, was intolerably homely, yet the world says that he 
was great. 

What indeed, if you are as ugly as Ben Johnson, of 
whose face one writer says : "It looks for all the world 
like a rotten russet apple, when it is bruised — look at his 
parboiled face — his face punched full of eylet holes, like 
the cover of a warming pan." 

A homely woman won the heart and hand of Shakes- 
peare. 

202 



O'Connell said of Lord Brougham : "He is one of the 
ugliest beings in existence ; it would make a fellow al- 
most sick to look at him. I have seen a head carved on 
a walking stick handsomer than he is." 

Lord Chesterfield, who wrote such a polished work on 
gentlemanly manners, was a very disagreeable looking 
man, and George II called him a "dwarf baboon/' 

Gibbon who wrote such a classic history of the "Decline 
and fall of the Roman Empire," was a very homely man. 

Baron von Humbolt would never sit for his portrait; 
for he said : "Dame Nature would have too good a laugh 
at my expense, and to punish her for the shabby trick she 
played on me, I will never give her that pleasure." 

The accomplished Lady Hamilton gave her heart to 
the dwarfish, homely, sickly looking Lord Nelson, and 
she loved him still after he had lost an eye and an arm. 
She loved the soul of the great naval hero. 

The popular preacher, George Whitfield, had eyeballs 
so crooked and squinting as to render him disagreeable 
to look at, and so of Edward Irving. Erasmus Darwin 
was vast and beefy looking, clumsy, lame, ugly and a 
stutterer, yet he won the hand, in the face of many rivals, 
of one of the finest ladies of his time. John Wilkes is 
said to have been the ugliest man in England, and a man 
once offered him ten guineas if he would not pass his 
office window for fear of bringing ill luck on his house, 
yet he had such a captivating manner about him that many 
of the finest women of his time were ready to follow him 
anywhere. He once said to Lord Townshend, said to 
be the handsomest man in England, that if he would give 
him but half an hour start, he would enter the list against 
him with any woman he might name. 

The Storm in Your Face 

Don't think everything that seems to be against you 
is really against your success. You may be on the wrong 
path and nothing but a storm in your face will drive you 
from it and afterwards you will be thankful for the storm. 

What you call adversity may be a great blessing in dis- 
guise. 

203 



A man once asked Lord Thurlow, the Chancellor of 
England, as to the best means for his son to succeed at 
the bar. He said : "Let your son spend his own for- 
tune, marry and spend his wife's fortune and then go to 
the bar; there will be little fear of his failure/'' 

As a rule a self-made fortune is the only one that is ap- 
preciated and hence the only one that is likely to remain 
with us. An eminent musician once said, when he heard 
a young lady sing : "She sings well, but she wants some- 
thing and in that something everything. If I were single 
I would court her, I would marry her, I would maltreat 
her, I would break her heart, and in six months she would 
be the greatest singer in Europe." This sounds very se- 
vere, but it is certainly true, that what sometimes seems 
to break our hearts, like losses and crosses seems neces- 
sary to bring out the highest and sweetest strains in our 
being. 

It is often the case that children wish to begin where 
their parents left off, but often in trying to do so, they 
leave off where their parents began, and while I am not 
disposed to make a virtue of poverty, I am not disposed 
to make a virtue of wealth. 

The blessing as a rule is not in either, but in the man, 
in the kind of stuff of which he is made, or which he de- 
velopes. 

A wise man uses the tossings of adversity, much as a 
springboard, by which he may be vaulted into success and 
victory. It is said that about ninety per cent of those 
who start in business fail, but the most of these failures 
are with those who are trying to make their beginning 
about the middle of the ladder, and comparatively few 
failures are found with those who started from the ground 
floor. 

It is said of Michael Angelo that when in the midst of 
his most important work, he slept with his clothes on, so 
that at night if some good thought would come to him, 
he would spring up at once and with the candle fastened 
en the top of his pasteboard cap, he would proceed to 
put in some new shading in his paintings. And when we 
look now at that wonderful painting, "The Last Supper," 

204 



the masterpiece of Titian, little do we think of the seven 
years of almost daily and patient toil which it cost the 
artist. 

Patient and anxious toil, even while others may be tak- 
ing sweet rest, may be the needed school of training for 
our greatest success. 

Fortune visits every person at least once in his life, 
but when she finds we are not ready to receive her, she 
she goes in at the door and out through the window, and 
some think Fortune has blasted them from their birth 
and give up all hope of success. 

But be a man of courage, one 

"Who breaks his birth's invidious bar 
And grasps the skirts of happy chance 
And breasts the blows of circumstance 
And grapples with his evil star." 

Succeed as Early as Possible 

Dryden read Polybius before he was ten years old. 
Pope wrote excellent verse at fourteen. Pascal, the fa- 
mous French mathematician, composed at sixteen a 
pamphlet on conic sections. Lord Bacon at sixteen had 
successfully pointed out the errors of the Aristotelian 
philosophy. Gibbon was a young man when he com- 
pleted that great work, "The Decline and Fall of the Ro- 
man Empire." 

Alexander was only twenty-seven when he had con- 
quered all of Western Asia. 

Pitt was prime minister of England when 24. Alex- 
ander Hamilton was secretary of the treasury when 32. 

It may be seen then that this is not specially the age of 
young men. They are exceptional cases we admit, and 
the great controlling men in most ages have been men of 
mature years. 

The famous Chinese Gordon was a little over 30 when 
he assumed command of the British army in China. 
Sheridan was less than 30 when he triumphantly swept up 
the Shenandoah Valley. General Grant said that Mc- 
Kenzie at 21 was the finest Colonel division commander 

205 



in the Union Army. Napoleon was only 27 when he won 
that famous victory at Lodi. 

What we design to teach and inspire is that such are 
the superior advantages now that a young man should be 
great at an earlier period than ever before. It is true 
that the necessary equipment is of such a broader and 
deeper nature that it may require more time. But as in 
the mechanical world with such improved facilities so 
much more can be accomplished and in less time, so it is 
with all the helps in the literary and scientific world, so 
much more should be accomplished early in life. But be 
careful of crowding out age and experience for thereby 
you may be not only ungrateful but may destroy better 
foundations that you can lay in many years to come. 

True Greatness and Goodness 

In the strictest sense the good alone are great. Why 
can you not be good as well as great while young? But 
perhaps some one will say, when then shall we sow our 
"wild oats"? Now, wild oats are not thorns, nor briers, 
nor cockle, they are simply oats, wild it is true, but in the 
main harmless if not useful, but if it means a sowing that 
shall have a bad reaping, then sow sparingly, for as ye sow, 
so shall ye reap. Be careful of the maxim of having a 
good time while you are young, for that may give you a 
bad time when you are old. 

And let me say have a fixed determination to live as 
long as you can, as there can be no virtue in suicide, 
whether it be by a sudden blow or by a prolonged pro- 
cess. Many persons when nearing the close of life find 
occasion to lament that they did not take better care of 
themselves in their earlier years. 

If your physical strength is your capital on which you 
expect to do the business of your life, see to it that you 
do not reduce that capital by profligate habits, by in- 
temperance in eating and drinking and sleeping which so 
rapidly vitiate and exhaust the vital forces. 

How often is it the case that men endowed with a large 
stock of vital force, even a Hercules in strength, yet they 
are most reckless in their habits. They say nothing hurts 
them. They may be almost equal to the twelve tasks of 

206 



Hercules; be able to slay serpents and lions and even 
bring the girdle of the queen of the Amazons and yet like 
him a little tinge of poison may cause their death. 

O, young man, take care of that body ; it is the temple 
of the living God and he that defiles the temple, him will 
God destroy. 

And if your mind is your capital, it is still important to 
take care of your body, for it is very difficult for a mind 
to work well tormented in a diseased body. 

Do not fail to cultivate a cheerful spirit and labor hard 
to banish the demon, melancholy. I have observed, as 
no doubt you have, that most persons who have attained 
to a remarkable longevity have been persons of cheerful 
disposition, and properly considered enjoyment is not 
only the end of life, but is an important condition where- 
by we may attain a protracted term of existence. 

The happier the human being is, the longer he lives ; 
the more he suffers, the sooner he dies. To add to en- 
joyment therefore, is to lengthen life; to inflict pain is to 
shorten life. 

Your life is needed in the world or you would not have 
been here, and you are needed in the field of labor as long 
as possible, at least until Providence shall call you from 
labor to reward, hence suicide in both human and divine 
law is pronounced a great crime. 

I do not forget that saying of Young which is, "That 
life is long which answers life's great end," but the end of 
life is to live happily and usefully and as long as you can. 

We should not strive to live long simply to add years 
to years but to add deeds to deeds. 

"We live in deeds, not years ; in thoughts, not breaths ; 

In feelings, not in figures on a dial." 
"We should count time by heart throbs. 
He most lives, who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best." 



There are so many who simply breathe and do not live ; 
they take in everything and give out nothing; they have 
Mfe but no soul. 

207 



I think Walter Scott was right when he said : 

"One crowded hour of glorious life 
Is worth an age without a name." 

But why not have all the hours of a long life like these? 
Our own American poet, who has passed from us, beloved 
and honored by the whole world of letters, and who was 
permitted to live so long and so beautifully, Longfellow, 
once wrote : "Alas ! it is not till time with reckless hand, 
has torn out half the leaves from the Book of Human life 
to light the fires of passion with from day to day, that 
man begins to see that the leaves which remain are few 
in number." Yes, often about one-third of life is spent 
before we come to a right sense of life. 



Man's Life Should Be Longest 

Man is the noblest work of God and should live the 
longest of all living things. 

The age of the cypress, boabab, chestnut, oak and palm 
is almost fabulous. The age of trees is variously deter- 
mined. By scars, as in the spruce ; by counting the rings 
on the bark from the base to the top of the stem, as in the 
Brazillian cocoa-nut, which shows its age to be from 600 
to 700 years ; by counting the concentric rings, as in the 
oak, which show some trees in England to be 300 to 400 
years old. The Wallace oak at Ellersley, is believed to 
be more than 700 years old. The celebrated eight olives 
on the Mount of Olives, are known by authentic docu- 
ments to be nearly 800 years old. The yew tree of Eng- 
land, and the sweet chestnut of Sicily, and the big trees of 
California are of a similar age, while one explorer com- 
puted the age of a boabab tree of Africa at 5,000 years, 
and some calculate some of the cypress trees of Mexico 
as being much older. Humbolt speaks of the trees of 
Teneriffe as one of the oldest inhabitants of the earth. 

The life of the insect is of short duration, ranging from 
a few hours to a few weeks. A toad lives about fifteen 
years and a tortoise in London died at the age of 120 
years and then by accident. 

208 



The fish live long. Buffon speaks of some carp in a 
certain pond known to be over 150 years old. A pike was 
once caught and by a brass ring attached, it was found to 
be 267 years old. 

Of birds the chicken family live about 12 to 15 years. 
The paroquet 120 years. The goose lives longer than 
the chicken, and the swan is known to live 120 years. 
The stork lives over 100 years. There is a fable that the 
raven lives 1,000 years. 

The age of domesticated animals has _been placed as 
follows : 

The camel 40 years, horse 30, ox 20, dog 12, cat 10, 
sheep 9, rabbit 8, guinea pig 7. The elephant lives from 
200 to 300 years, the whale 400 years. 

The Bible account of early man as to longevity is open 
to a double interpretation and hence the question may be 
considered as yet an open one ; but when it is said that 
Abraham lived 175 years and others of his time a little 
below that age, we can find similar cases in late years. A 
Hungarian died at the age 185, an Englishman at 169. 
Age should correspond to the time of growth; that is, it 
should be five times that of growth. 

Two Englishmen, Thomas Parr and Henry Jenkins, 
were at death 152 and 169 respectively. Patrick O'Neil, 
called the Irish Bluebeard, buried seven wives before he 
finally died at 120. The French have paid much atten- 
tion to vital statistics. They mention a lady who was mar- 
ried at 127, but died the next year. They mention also 
a doctor who married at 116 and became the father of 
two children, but he died in four years. They also re- 
cord about a Norwegian peasant who died at 160, 
leaving two sons to mourn his death, one who was 108 and 
the other only nine years old. 

Why Do We Die ? 

If the repair were always identical with the waste, life 
would then only be terminated by accident, never by old 
age. This is a fact well known to all who have investi- 
gated the subject. In early years this balance of the hu- 
man system is admirably preserved. As man advances 
in life, however, and gets up to fifty or sixty he begins to 

209 



get stiff in the joints and experiences what he calls feeling 
his age. Renovation of various organs of the body de- 
pends on the blood, and if this supply is not at all times 
furnished in sufficient quantity and quality, a gradual de- 
terioration takes place. Heart and arteries become clog- 
ged and the whole delicate machinery suffers from the 
lack of nourishment. Deposits of phosphate and carbon- 
ate of lime accumulate and the change is really a chemical 
one, by which the blood is hindered from going from 
the extremities of the system and fulfilling its work of re- 
pair and renovation. Old age, then is the result of a 
change in the blood, which becomes overloaded with 
earthy salts, leaves its refuse matter in the system, and 
the valves of the heart become cartilaginous. Becoming 
thus, the heart is not able to propel the blood to its des- 
tination. Arteries also having become ossified, a still 
further obstruction takes place and the whole body lan- 
guishes. Blood is life. Now if some means were dis- 
covered by Which the blood could be kept in condition 
like that of youth, it would throw off its earthy salts 
which obstruct the action of the heart and arteries. Our 
food and drink make our blood. It seems, then, that it 
is to them we should look primarily for the quality of it. 
Without eating and drinking there is no life, but we 
may select certain kinds of foods containing a minimum 
amount of the elements which cause the ossific blockages 
in the system. An English physician, Dr. C. F. De Lacy 
Evans, who made many researches in regard to our food, 
comes to the conclusion that more fruit should be eaten, 
especially apples, grapes and bananas, they being rich in 
nutritious elements. Being deficient in nitrogen, they 
are best for elderly people, as they keep the blood in bet- 
ter condition than flesh. At the age of 60 people should 
eat less beef and mutton and use more apples and nuts of 
all kinds, the latter being rich in many of the nutritious 
elements of meat. Fish and poultry have not the objec- 
tionable earth salts of beef. In order to retard physical 
decay and to keep the blood in a wholesome condition, 
distilled water is recommended. It has solvent qualities 
which act upon the earth salts in the blood and expel them 
from the body. A goblet of this water taken three times 

210 



a day, with ten or fifteen drops of diluted phosphoric acid 
in each glass has a tendency to assist the blood in elimin- 
ating the obstructing salts. A man is as old as his arter- 
ies. If they are soft and compressible, the deteriorating 
effects of old age have not appeared. 

Flourens, in his work on Human Longevity, cites the 
case of the Italian centenarian, Cornaro, whose recipe for 
health and long life was extreme moderation in all things. 
Flourens himself insists that a century is the normal life, 
but that 50 years beyond, and even 200 years, are human 
possibilities under advantageous conditions. Hufeland 
also believed in 200 years as an extreme limit. Sir James 
Crichton Browne, M. D., concedes, in a late address, that 
Flourens is right. Duration of growth gives the length 
of life. Hufeland held that the human body grows till the 
age of twenty-five, and that eight times the growth per- 
iod was the utmost limit of man. But if twenty years be 
taken as the time of growth, even five times that will give 
us a century. According to Flourens and Cuvier, man is 
of the frugivorous or fruit and nut-eating class of animals, 
like the gorillas and other apes and monkeys. Man has 
not teeth like the lions and carnivorous beasts, neither 
has he teeth like the cow and herbivorous animals. Intes- 
tines in the man are seven or eight times the length of 
the body ; the lions are but three times the length of its 
body. Herbivorous animals, like the cow, have intes- 
tines forty-eight times the length of the body. 

So, judging man by his teeth, his stomach and his in- 
testines, he is naturally and primitively frugivorous, and 
was not intended to eat flesh. Fruit is aperient, and ap- 
ples act on the liver and are good brain food also, as they 
contain much phosphoric acid. As to the effect of certain 
climates, perhaps too much stress has been laid upon that. 
We find that Thomas Parr, who lived in England, died 
in his 153rd year, and was dissected by the celebrated dis- 
coverer of the circulation of the blood, Dr. William Har- 
vey (who expressed no doubt of his age), was never out 
of his native country. More depends on food than on 
any climate. Exercise, fresh air to live in and to sleep 
in, daily bathing and freedom from medicine are the im- 
portant things. In July, 1893, the Courier-Journal of 

211 



Louisville published a long account of James McMillen, 
who died in Carlisle County, Ky., at one hundred and 
seventeen years of age. When Buffon, Hufeland, Flour- 
ens and men of that class, who have studied the subject, 
believed in the possibility of 150 or 200 years of life, the 
subject is not to be laughed at. 



Think Out a Plan of Life 

Begin early in life to think about what you intend do- 
ing and determine as soon as you can what shall be your 
occupation or profession. Life is short and many spend 
much of it before they find out that for which they were 
intended. Any honorable calling is honored by a life of 
devotion to it, and most callings need a whole life time, 
but those who are "long choosing and beginning late" 
cannot make that success they otherwise might have done. 
I do not ask you to choose this or that, but I do ask you 
to choose that for which you believe yourself best adapted 
or called, as no man can work well in another man's har- 
ness. 

David with Goliath's armor would have been weaker 
than with his own sling. As Sydney Smith said : "Be 
what nature intended you for, and you will succeed ; be 
anything else and you will be ten thousand times worse 
than nothing." Then I say early get into your niche and 
stand in it and do not despise it and no man need hang 
his head who is engaged in an honorable calling, however 
humble. 

A hard hand and a dusty face with a good conscience 
are better than a velvet hand and a powdered face with a 
bad heart. But never accept of a low and degraded and 
wicked calling because there is money in it. The busi- 
ness will most likely ruin you, then what will your money 
be worth to you. Better is a penny with honor than mil- 
lions with disgrace. Think not that you can pursue your 
calling or business if the influences about you are evil and 
you escape the contagion, as the infectious atmosphere of 
that wicked business will poison your moral character as 
$urely as malaria will corrupt your blood. 

Then my young friend in some honorable calling early 

212 



put all your powers to work. The world wants young, 
fresh, rich blood. The old are soon, too soon, to be cast 
aside. 

"Years steal 

Fire from the mind as vigor from the limb ; 

And life's enchanted cup but sparkles near the brim." 

How much parents can do in a quiet way to assist their 
children in finding their proper places in life, but any ar- 
bitrary choice on the part of parents may not be well un- 
less they are clearly convinced of strongly marked in- 
clinations or adaptations for certain kinds of labor or pro- 
fessions. 

The old plan of the father, if it ever were so, instead of 
the Lord, selecting the preacher from among his boys and 
sending him to school and sending the other boys to the 
field or the shop was a very questionable course. The 
better way would be to discuss the various callings and 
professions in their hearing, call out their opinions and 
carefully note their views and their early leanings for 
one calling over any other, and in most cases they may be 
fitted in some honorable calling. 

But these indications for certain callings will not al- 
ways be so clear and unmistakable and in these cases a 
man may do about as well in one as in another. But 
doubtless many of the wrecks in society may be traced to 
the fact that men are trying to do that for which neither 
nature nor grace has qualified them. Some are trying to 
be preachers of the Gospel when they ought to be work- 
ing at a puddling furnace ; some are trying to be teachers 
who ought to be pupils, and on the other hand some are 
blowing the blast who ought to be blowing the gospel 
trumpet ; and some are sowing the grain who ought to be 
sowing the seed of divine truth, and when they find out 
their mistake perhaps it is too late to change. 

My friends, we go through life only once, and we can- 
not go back like surveyors and change our stakes and cor- 
rect our field notes, but we permanently drive our stakes 
as we go, and we put down our field notes in indelible ink, 
and hence I come round to the point again how import- 
ant that we be right at the start. 

213 



A Word to Ladies 

May I be permitted to speak a word to young ladies, 
and first let me speak of the importance of attention to do- 
mestic duties. You are to become, by and by, the queen 
of some home. And upon you will depend very largely 
the success or the failure, the happiness or the misery of 
that home. The model young lady practically learns all 
the duties of the home in every department of that home 
from the laundry to the parlor, from the cellar to the attic, 
from the baking of a loaf of bread to the fingering of a 
piano, from the darning of a stocking to the trimming of 
a bonnet, from the training of children in the nursery to 
the entertaining of the guests in the drawing room, in 
a word, she strives to learn everything that belongs to a 
well regulated family. 

But we must express our fears that in these times this 
part, this important part, of a young lady's training is too 
much neglected. Her youthful years are otherwise oc- 
cupied. 

What is your sex's earliest, latest care, 
Your heart's supreme ambition? To be fair. 

There may be a great deal of solemn prose in the ques- 
tion, what would you do with a home if you had one? 
But whether it shall be a happy or an unhappy home will 
depend very much on how well you are prepared to take 
charge of it. Swift uttered a solemn truth when he said, 
"The reason why so few marriages are happy is because 
young ladies spend their time in making nets, not in mak- 
ing cages/' 

You have a right to expect that your husband shall 
make a living for you, but you must make a home ; and 
this you can do without being his slave. I have no words 
of sympathy for a cross, cruel, petulant, fault-finding 
sour companion, husband or wife, but as I am speaking of 
the latter, see that you shall do your part in tidiness, in 
economy, in order, which will induce your companion to 
say like the Italian proverb, "Home, my own home, tiny 
though thou be, to me thou seemest an abbey." 

I must now speak of the importance of mental culture. 
The model young lady will not neglect her education. 

214 



In the midst of such ample facilities and wonderful en- 
couragements there seems to be no excuse for this neglect 
in this day. 

Samuel Johnson in his day spoke of "wretched unidead 
girls." But he was somewhat impartial as he also spoke 
of a young man who "seemed to possess but one idea and 
that a wrong one." But he was especially severe on wo- 
man appearing in public life as a preacher, when he said, 
"Sirs, a woman preaching is like a dog's walking on his 
hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to 
find it done at all." 

We are not surprised to find woman a public teacher 
and in many departments she has proven herself to be 
the most successful teacher. 

For many years they tried to keep her out of the medi- 
cal profession, but she has come in ; for many years they 
tried to keep her out of the legal profession, but she has 
come in ; and for many years they tried to keep her out of 
journalism, but she has come in, and in all these places 
she has come to stay. But my young friend, what will 
you be intellectually? It is said of Elizabeth Fry that per- 
sonally she was very attractive, and in early womanhood 
she had a severe struggle in deciding whether to be a gay 
belle of fashion or to devote herself to a life of useful- 
ness. She chose the latter and in a grand life of philan- 
thropy she visited the prisons and asylums of England, 
France, Holland, Germany, Denmark and Prussia. 

What will you decide to be? A belle of fashion simply 
to win the favors and smiles of the gay or one devoted to 
the high and noble purposes of life, filling your sphere 
with deeds of kindness and words of love. At least the 
ground-work of your intellectual life must be laid while 
you are young, and before you are called to the cares and 
duties of a home. Do not spend all these bright and 
sparkling years of youth with fuss and feathers, with 
flowers and flounces, with fun and frolic. It is said of 
Madame de Stael that she was deep in the philosophy of 
politics at an age when most other girls were engaged in 
dressing dolls. 

And although the most of you may never appear in pub- 
lic life, yet you are to be the private instructors of the 

215 



coming generation, and this instruction may be confined 
to the sacred precincts of your home, but there by your 
own fireside is to be laid, to a large extent, the foundation 
of our national prosperity or our national ruin. The 
sweet lullabies which you may sing by the cradle's side 
may be the nation's sad requiem or its triumphal march 
onward to higher national glory. 

A long time ago some one said that if permitted to 
make the ballads he should not care who made the laws 
of a nation. O young ladies see what is your supreme 
power and use it for the right. 

And now you would most certainly think I had not done 
my duty to this subject if I did not speak with more es- 
pecial emphasis about your moral culture. I have not 
left this point for the last because I think it least, very far 
from that. But of that you have heard more often per- 
haps than of either the other points. 

Adam Clark said one woman was equal to seven men 
and a half. If there is any sense in which this is true, 
it is when one woman is bad. She can pull more angels 
down than were the number of the stars swept down from 
the skies by the great red dragon of the Apocalypse. Ay, 
more, she did pull a whole bright and pure world from its 
moral orbit down into the darkness of the valley of sin. 

"What mighty ills have not been done by woman? 
Who was't betrayed the Capitol ? A woman ! 
Who lost Mark Anthony the world ? A woman ! 
Who was the cause of a long ten year's war, 
And laid at last old Troy in ashes? A woman!" 

I will not quote the next line, it is too strong and yet 
too true. O how can this mighty power for evil be turned 
into a safe channel for good? Sometimes it has been held 
up as a reproach to Christianity that it commenced with 
a company of women and that they largely outnumber the 
males in the church of to-day. 

If this is so and shall continue to be so it will be an in* 
fallible prophecy of the ultimate triumph of Christianity 
throughout the world. For let Christian mothers have 
the training of childhood and we will have in time a Chris- 

216 



tian manhood for "the child is father of the man"; or,. 
as Milton said, "The childhood shows the man as morning 
shows the day." 

My young lady friends, Christianity has been your most 
beneficent friend, and may you never forget this friend 
and turn away from him with indifference? I trust you 
will never be so ungrateful. How many joys are yet held 
out for your possession? How many rich fields invite 
your toil and how bright may be the crown of your re- 
joicing? 

A Happy Marriage 

Now having selected your calling and having made 
whatever preparation is necessary or what you can for 
entering upon it the next important step is to select a 
help-meet for you. Man was never intended to fight life's 
battles single handed; neither was it the purpose that he 
should share life's joys and sorrows alone. 

How dreary would life's voyage be to him if he should be : 
"Alone, alone, all, all alone, 
Alone on a wide, wide sea." 

Marriage is man's normal state and the Creator knew 
what was best for man. A few persons single-handed 
have won their way to success in life, but they have been 
few and they will not furnish you a rule. Some of them 
also have been contented and happy in single life, but they 
have been few, while most of them have been unambi- 
tious, shriveled, penurious, cross and sour. 

But earthlier happy is the rose distilled, 
Than that which witherng on the virgin thorn 
Grows, lives and dies in single-blessedness. 

My advice is that of Franklin's, namely, to enter this 
important relation at the earliest moment your age, occu- 
pation and circumstances will justify. Many young per- 
sons save little or nothing while single, as there is no spec- 
ial object to induce them to habits of economy and they 
are the constant prey of the lazy leeches of society who 

217 



live on the blood of others. 'And of all things that a 
noble young man cannot endure it is to be called stingy or 
mean ; his bottom dollar will go before he will stand that. 
'And hence before he is aware of it he has become a spend- 
thrift ; and once having become so it is almost impossible 
while he is single to get back to economy again. And 
when he enters the marriage state he is cut off from that 
company of leeches and he finds it much easier now to 
support two than to keep a dozen who formerly lived off 
of him. And if your marriage has been a suitable one 
your home will be a constant reminder of the need of 
economy, as well as a center of attraction away from the 
haunts of vice and an inspiration to industry and a com- 
fort to you in the hardships and trials of life. 

I believe it was Cowper who said : 

Choose not alone a proper mate 
But proper time to marry. 

Start also with this conviction of your responsibility to 
God. This, said Daniel Webster was his greatest thought, 
that of his accountability to God. 

Life's but a means unto an end, that end, 
Beginning, mean, and end to all things — God. 

This will not make your real pleasure less but more and 
also more abiding. 

I have intended to say all through these conversations 
that I wish you to be happy, yes truly happy, and your 
happiness will be the purest and best when tempered with 
the conviction of your future accountability. "Rejoice, O 
young man in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in 
the days of thy youth, but know thou that for all these 
things God will bring thee into judgment." This will serve 
as a restraint to inordinate pleasure or gratification and 
all persons need restraint. To hold in check the impetu- 
ous torrent of passion there is no force equal to this con- 
viction that there is a future and impartial tribunal at 
whose bar each must give account of himself to God. 

This conviction also will lead to practical religion 
wherever it properly seizes the mind and heart, for I can- 

218 



not see how any man can take in fully the thought of God 
and his relation to him and still neglect those duties 
growing out of that relation. Hence, I say, incorporate 
religion with the other duties of your early life, and as I 
have said, in order to succeed in other pursuits you must 
begin early, so in order to succeed in religious matters be- 
gin early. 

It is in your own interest that it is enjoined upon you to 
"Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, 
before the evil days come and the years draw nigh when 
thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them." 

Again I would say, cultivate a high regard for all re- 
ligious matters and never tolerate a light and frivolous 
spirit concerning them, for as sure as this grows upon you 
it will culminate in open hate and disgust. And in order 
to get this religious culture find a home in some church, 
for it is hard to raise fruit on the public commons, for 
while out of the church there is no fence about you ; you 
are exposed to every vandal and Satan has a kind of pub- 
lic license to roam over all outside territory at will, and 
woe be to the stragglers that fall a prey to his cruel power. 

Dr. Samuel Johnson was very wise when he said : 

"To be of no church is dangerous. Religion of which 
the rewards are distant, and which is animated only by 
Faith and Hope, will glide by degrees out of the mind, 
unless it be invigorated and impressed by stated calls to 
worship/' 

Do Not Be a Floater 

You must early learn to help yourself. I would not en- 
courage that kind of independence which at last ends 
in selfishness, but that kind of self-reliance which enables 
one to walk alone without clinging to your mother's apron 
strings. Too many are to-day waiting for inherited for- 
tunes, but such fortunes will seldom suit the heir any bet- 
ter than the father's clothes will fit the son, and the truth 
is to insure a good fit, you must have your fortune made 
to your own order. Some are thinking that they are 
having a hard time now, but just wait till such and such a 
friend or relative dies and then they will float well in so- 
ciety. A man may learn to float by tying onto his body 

219 



corks and bladders, but the best way to learn to swim is 
to plunge in and struggle with and conquer the floods. 

The men, as a rule who make the best use of wealth are 
those who have really and truly earned it. It is said of 
the lobster, if by a chance billow it is left high and dry on 
a rock, he will not make even the smallest effort to regain 
his native element, and so there are men to-day so inert 
and lazy that they make but little personal effort to suc- 
ceed; they are waiting for some generous billow of for- 
tune to set them afloat. 

In some countries the natives carry the travelers on 
their backs over the mountain steeps. And so to-day 
many parents are carrying their children, and when the 
time comes that they must put them down, they will not be 
able to take care of themselves, never having been train- 
ed to walk life's rugged way alone. 

There are two methods of training children, and one 
is all "you may/' allowing the child to do everything it 
wishes to, to follow every whim and notion of its own. 
No wonder such a child is a spoiled child. Such a boy or 
girl grows up to become simply a big baby, not a real man 
or woman. 

The other method is all "don'ts," that is, they are never 
allowed to do anything scarcely, they are never put upon 
their honor, they are never trusted. Is it any wonder, 
then, that as soon as from under the eye of the parent, 
they will take unwarranted liberty? Suppose the parent 
is about leaving home, and she says, "Now, Johnnie, don't 
go near the well." Of course he will go to the well then, 
because he thinks there is something in it to be seen. 

"Now, Johnnie, don't go to the barn among the horses/' 
Johnnie will go now, of course. He just thinks he hasn't 
seen the colts for two or three days, and I should not 
wonder if he would try to ride one of them before the 
mother gets back. "Now, Johnnie, don't get at the mince 
pies in the pantry, and if Johnnie doesn't get a piece of 
mince pie before his mother gets back it is simply be- 
cause he don't like mince pies, that is all. 

Too many "don'ts" never make a good child. Teach 
a child to rely on its own sense of honor and right and 
you should try to cultivate and guide that sense aright. 

220 



But my young friends, you who are growing into man- 
hood and womanhood, early learn to mainly depend on 
your own energies. Do not expect to live on other peo- 
ple's brains, for when you come to borrow, you will find 
that most other people are much like yourself, they have 
none to loan. 

Do not wait for dead men's shoes, or you may go bare- 
footed all the days of your life. Do not always carry 
water from your neighbor's well; dig a well of your own. 
Do not always be lighting your torch at other people's 
fires ; build a fire of your own. 

Do not be a boarder all your life time; build a house 
and marry a wife and live under the shadow of your own 
roof, a self-reliant, joyous and happy man. 

My young friends I cannot close this book without say- 
ing that whatever may have been its influence upon your 
life I can assure you that it has intensified my desire for 
your highest welfare here and hereafter. But may I not 
hope that it will influence your lives for good throughout 
the years to come causing you to aspire to the good, the 
true and the lovely, and to trample beneath your feet the 
mean, the low, the base and ever aiming at the noblest 
and grandest possibilities within your power may the 
richest blessings of heaven crown your happy life. 

He liveth long who liveth well, 
All other life is short and vain ; 
He liveth longest who can tell 
Of living most for heavenly gain. 

He liveth long who liveth well, 
All else is being flung away; 
He liveth longest who can tell 
Of true things truly done each day. 



221 



JAN 23 1904 







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